Suncayr

Votes: 1
Views: 4001

When you go outside to enjoy the sun, you most likely put sunscreen on - we all do this to protect our skin from harmful UV rays. UV exposure can cause sunburns, skin-aging, and greatly increase a person's risk of developing skin cancer. However, at the end of the day, most people still end up with a painful sunburn. Why does this happen?

The answer is that we forget to re-apply our sunscreen, and we don't know when our sunscreen is still protecting us from the sun. Suncayr is going to fix this problem.

Suncayr is developing a UV responsive marker. You would draw the marker on a small patch of skin, and then apply sunscreen on your body. When your sunscreen has worn off, the ink will change colour, letting you know that you are no longer protected and need to re-apply your sunscreen.

Nobody wants to come home from an otherwise fun trip with a painful sunburn. So imagine that during the day, you have an easy indication of your protection from UV. You can look down at your arm, and see the dot you drew in the morning. However, instead of it being green when you first drew it on, it's now a vibrant red colour, a clear indication that your sunscreen is no longer protecting you. You know to grab your bottle and re-apply before risking a nasty burn that would ruin your trip.

Other companies are attempting to capitalize on this market space and provide similar solutions, but they are unsatisfactory. One competitor makes a sticker which has a horrible reputation of falling off, and isn't desirable to wear on your skin. Another makes a bracelet that warns you about UV, but it doesn't have a way of telling you anything about your personal sunscreen protection. Suncayr is the only product that will be able to offer the consumer knowledge of their sun safety anywhere on their body in a comfortable and reliable manner.

Once our prototype is complete, Suncayr plans on running a crowdfunding campaign to be able to manufacture the first round of products. When the time is right, Suncayr plans to seek partnerships with large sunscreen and cosmetic manufacturers such as L'Oreal and Johnson & Johnson. We plan to utilize their expertise in distribution and chemical engineering to mass manufacture our product and efficiently bring it to market. We will also seek angel and venture capital investment as necessary.

Our customers are people who are aware of the unhealthy effects of overexposure to UV light, and are interested in protecting themselves against this damage. This includes people currently purchasing sunscreen to protect themselves, and who are interested in further knowledge about their protection. During our customer research, we've established that a huge market exists for parents of young children, who are extremely interested in their protection.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Derek Jouppi
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Derek Jouppi, Rachel Pautler, Andrew Martinko, Hayden Soboleski, Chad Sweeting
  • Derek is inspired by:
    Making people's lives more simple, in the most efficient way possible.
  • Software used for this entry:
    N/A
  • Patent status:
    none