Press Releases

Design for Life: Award winning Bamboo Radio for Madagascar

Press Release
For immediate release, 1 Jun 2010

Design for Life: Award winning bamboo radio for Madagascar

Photo: http://www.3ddesign.org.uk/becky_barber_boo_radios.jpg

Product Design student Rebecca Barber from Plymouth University who has designed solar-powered radios constructed entirely from bamboo has won the university’s Social Enterprise Award in the University’s Business Ideas Challenge.

With a cash prize, and a comprehensive business enterprise support package, she is hoping that her idea will help build a social enterprise opportunity in Madagascar.

Becky believes the innovative radios could simultaneously help establish a cottage industry in the poverty-stricken island, as well as play a key role in educational projects.

Becky, 22, developed the concept after many visits to Madagascar, where her parents have spent the last 26 years working for charities.

The University of Plymouth student said: “Over two thirds of the population exist below the poverty line, earning around £1 per day. So I have been really motivated to develop a project that would use the education I have been fortunate enough to enjoy, and the resources of the University, to provide opportunities for those not so lucky.

“The idea is that by using sustainable and naturally occurring resources in the construction of the radios, we can provide jobs and opportunities for people in Madagascar.”

After meeting with aid organisations on her most recent trip earlier this year, Becky found that they were very receptive to her proposed project, as radios could enable agencies to communicate with remote villages to provide both important health updates and also act as education channels.

So she worked on the designs, using sustainable materials, and found that with the plentiful supply of bamboo in certain areas of the country, the costs of production could be kept relatively low.

Becky said: “Bamboo is an amazing material – it has many of the properties of a hard wood but takes a fraction of the time to grow. And because of its natural structure, it produces a fantastic sonorous quality.

“If this takes off we could establish workshops in the country, provide good salaries, and put the means of production into their hands.”

Becky has produced two models – a desktop version and a portable one constructed from hand woven reeds – and the idea is to sell them both in Madagascar and also in England, where they will retail at a higher price to help provide the capital to fund further social enterprise projects.

Both models will be exhibited at New Designers (week 2) in London, 8-11 July on stand F16. Once she has graduated, Becky, from West Sussex, will be looking to establish BOO Enterprise, possibly with the support of the University’s Formation Zone business incubation unit.

And her design talents do not stop at radios – she will also be showcasing a low tech refrigeration system that uses evaporation to cool food, and a parasol that provides shelter from the sun in the day but which powers up a solar-fuelled light for use at night.

Professor Roberto Fraquelli, of the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at the University, said: “This is another fantastic example of how our students are taking real issues and problems and using them as the inspiration for their designs

“Becky has a unique first hand insight into the complex situation in Madagascar and her vision is powerfully simple – to raise aspirations and the standards of living.”

ENDS

Contact:
Rebecca Barber
Product Designer, University of Plymouth
rebecca.barber@students.plymouth.ac.uk
www.3Ddesign.org.uk

Notes to Editors
More images are available upon request.

For more information, please telephone Andrew Merrington in the University of Plymouth Press Office on 01752 588003.

About the University of Plymouth

Consistently ranked one of the top modern universities in the UK, Plymouth has a strong record of excellence, enterprise and innovation across its teaching and research activities and is distinguished by its long-term engagement with employers.

With around 30,000 students, including those studying at its partner FE colleges throughout the South West, the university is one of largest in the UK. With four government-funded Centres for Excellence in Teaching & Learning, the maximum awarded to any single institution, the university enjoys a high rate of graduate employment and has recently invested more than £110 million in state-of-the-art facilities to enhance the student experience.

Plymouth is ranked in the top 50 research universities in the UK*. The results of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 showed the majority of areas submitted by the university included world-leading research, achieving the highest rating possible, scoring 4 stars. Overall, 80% of the research was judged as being of international repute.

As the enterprise university, the University of Plymouth delivers outstanding economic, social and cultural return for business, the professions, the public sector and its wider community.

For further information go to www.plymouth.ac.uk
*Research Fortnight league table