InterviewsScanitive at Seeds&Chips: innovation has no age..

Giulia Baroni8 years ago7 min

Advertisement

This year’s Seeds and Chips has been a moment to think, meet people, discovering products and innovative ideas that might change the future of food… But it wasn’t just this. It has also been a moment where we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful stories and people, and particularly, I felt amazed by the story behind an app, Scanitive. The idea is simple, and starts from a question: who knows how much sugar is contained in the food we buy? But not only the app amazed me, the story of the two co-founders has been the real deal… a father, Declan Droney, and his daughter, Saileog, watching a documentary about obesity in Ireland, deciding to take action instead of watching the documentary and then just let it be…as it always happens.

Interesting facts: Ireland is the country with the highest rate of obese people, and by 2025, 38% of the Irish population will be obese, the highest number in Europe. And unfortunately the reason why the obese rate is so high is because people DON’T KNOW. But the point is not that info are missing, but that people don’t know how to read them… and here it comes a system that can bring information that anyone can read, by telling you how may teaspoons of sugar there are in your drink/food. An ongoing project started in January 2016 that will soon be released on iOS and Android.

IMG_20160511_121029

From the encounter and discussion of two generations, of a father and a daughter, came out something beautiful able to talk to the entire population, to the young ones and to the grown-ups. Scan the barcode and see the number of teaspoons, and remember! 9 teaspoons are the recommended daily dose of sugar for men, 7 for women. You see too much sugar? Let Scanitive help you find a healthier alternative and share it with your friends! But the surprise, is seeing a 16 years old presenting her new adventure, a 16 years old that is actually trying to do something, because she doesn’t “want to live in a world with obese people, it’s just not healthy”… and while I was sitting on a chair listening to the opening conference, the moment Marco Gualtieri said “she is 16” my mind was split in two: one side was saying “what?!16?damn, I am old…” the other part was more like “finally. Innovation doesn’t come from grumpy old men, but from young ones”.

And what I found extraordinary is how the combination of two different ages produced something so brilliant. Also, Declan mentioned “No 15 years old wants to listen to a grown man, but hopefully they will listen to someone who has their same age” …and apparently, they are! What happened with Saileog is that “now, kids and friends are giving her their snacks, asking her how much sugar is contained in it”, and she became a reference point for the community, a sort of local hero.

The past and the present, together, to present the future.

Giulia Baroni

Vivo in una nube, non solo come scelta digitale ma anche come scelta di vita. A volte torno sulla terra e adoro realizzare che viviamo in un mondo globalizzato, ecco perché sono sempre curiosa e pronta ad imparare da culture differenti. Vivi per imparare ed impara per vivere.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.