Coventry University And See-Saw Electricity

I've been reading recently, on the Cov Uni website, and in the Telegraph, about a see-saw to generate electricity at schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

It's been designed by Dan Sheridan, a master's student in Consumer Product Design at the university (the photo is from the Cov Uni website).

As I said to him over email today, it's interesting for a few reasons:

- it's a way to get people thinking about development issues and entrepreneurship/innovation being linked

- Dan came up with the idea after travelling and doing volunteer work in Africa last year. He wanted to "focus his final year project on the types of people in the world who need the most help and support, and where my skills in product design could come in to that." Perhaps we would have many more innovations coming out of the "developed" world that could serve the needs of the "developing" world, if an overseas component was built into the degree itself.

Dan is off to Uganda to test out his prototype on the 26th of March.

If people have any ideas, or contacts, for people who might like to invest in this type of product, you can contact Dan directly at danielsheridan@yahoo.co.uk.