Innovative Solutions against Indoor Air Pollutants

Status Quo

Today we are exposed to increasing health threats and rising air pollution. This becomes evident in rising emissions, exhaust gases or fine dust, continues with mold infestation or house dust pollution, and has recently gotten particularly evident in the Covid-19 pandemic with viruses.

Air quality and the impact of atmospheric pollution are a major issue today for public health and quality of life: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 7 million premature deaths worldwide are reportedly due to air pollution, of which around 3.8 million are attributed to indoor air pollution in homes.

Studies have shown that indoor air in buildings can be 5 to 8 times more polluted than outdoor air, with air pollution coming from a variety of sources and including a wide range of gases, chemicals, and other substances.

Along with this people in highly developed industrialized countries already today spend more than 90% of their time indoors and recently due to home office regulations and restrictions on public life, more and more frequently in their own four walls.

To put this 90% figure in perspective, it’s useful to think of what it means in terms of our own lives: By the time we hit 60, most of us have spent 54 years indoors, mostly at home.

Challenge

Especially in your own home it is therefore important to create a safe space where you can live calmly and without fear of invisible dangers. Less air pollutants at home means living healthier and having a better life quality:
It is essential to adequately prevent increasing dangers, identify them at an early stage and, if the worst comes to the worst, take consistent action against them.

Thus the central question for this challenge is: How can air pollution in our living spaces be detected, prevented and/or eliminated efficiently to make one's home a safer space?
Remember that indoor air pollutants can be generated at home or can enter the living space from the outside through open spaces!

What innovative technologies, products, services, and solutions can end users use to effectively protect their own homes and themselves from the many invisible dangers of air pollution, ranging from biological sources (viruses, molds, mites) to inorganic and organic chemicals (fine and ultrafine dust, CO, ozone, VOCs)?

Tracks

To enhance understanding of possibilities to innovate, we developed the following tracks. More detailed information and inspiration can be found via the details tab. More guiding and inspirational content and key questions can be found via the submission tab.

Note: Always think about possible combinations of the following tracks to find even more interesting and innovative approaches.

Remember that tesa has a product-oriented business model. This means that services are very welcome and desired, but only as a supplement or additional support of the main innovative product solution! We are also looking for solutions that empower consumers to take action by themselves!

Furthermore, even though services, products and/or technologies that educate and provide useful information are desired, they should only be an additional feature or value of the main solution and thus of the other four tracks.

It does not matter if you are a student, a researcher, a new team or a startup: Until the 06th of April, your task is to come up with an innovative approach towards consumer protection against indoor air pollutants!

Questions or looking for inspiration?

If you would like to talk to someone from our team about your approach or if you have any questions, please feel free to book a phone appointment via this link or just send us an email to hello@ekipa.de.