The idea
“The idea was born during the lockdown when, having forcibly had more time for me and my projects, I started to think about some ideas that I had had in my head for a long time and had never had the time to delve into” says Alessandro Paulis.
“At that time, in fact, I happened to read a report that talked about single-use plastic and the damage it does to the environment with regulatory indications and market numbers, and that was the spark.”
Working as an Industrial Designer for more than thirty years in different fields always related to innovation, I started to think about how many objects surround us and are harmful to the environment: in fact,
“I think that design is not the aim but the tool to improve people’s lives”
Among them surely there is an everyday object that is produced in billions every year and is also potentially dangerous for those who use it: the cotton swab. I focused on the 3 main problems:
- it is a single-use product and therefore harmful to the environment given the large quantities in which it is produced (whether made of plastic or other materials),
- it is inefficient (it tends to compact earwax at the bottom of the ear, without removing it completely),
- it can be dangerous (it risks shattering the eardrum of the user).
From an idea to an economical and sustainable project.
After starting to develop the project idea, I involved a friend and startup management expert Alessio Serafini, who helped me turn the idea into an economical and sustainable project.
Together, we soon found the support of the Venice Business Incubator and Lazio Innova, an accelerator of the Lazio Region, and we were able to involve Business Angels with a great experience in innovative projects and, consequently, to integrate in the team other skills, with experiences fundamental to the proper development of the project.
A community
We believe that EarBuddy is the result of comparisons with many people, experiments and feedback from a community of enthusiasts and experts in various fields, including medical.
With them, we have built several prototypes over time, used the thousands of problems encountered in the various steps to improve the product, and arrived at a solution that is useful, effective, environmentally friendly, and has also generated curiosity among ENT physicians to whom we presented it.
Then this solution was also patented thanks to the support of Invitalia, a state agency that supports innovation in Italy.
