myQmod: Sustainable Energy Tools For Tomorrow's Innovators

Qmod aims to teach children how to generate and innovate with sustainable energy in areas that have limited access to electricity.

Students today require 21st Century skills that go beyond the core subjects. Most companies providing 21st Century skill building platforms tend to focus on one skill, coding. 

We view energy as a foundation to build numerous 21st Century skills. We are interested in providing the tools to explore this foundation and expand upon topics ranging from the fundamentals of circuits, all the way to the potentials of solving community energy needs through design thinking exercises. 

Qmod has spent the past 2 years working with makerspaces, schools and hundreds of students from countries all over the world to rethink energy innovation from an educational perspective. In addition to this, we have developed our business model with top tech incubators including Google Launchpad, YES!Delft and E.ON’s on :agile accelerator. 

Through these experiences, Qmod has identified a serious need for educators to teach 21st Century skills in a way that is tangible and applicable towards the needs of tomorrow. Without a doubt, energy education is a global necessity, and Qmod has developed a platform to address this objective.

Qmod provides an opportunity for students to learn about the science of energy through 21st Century skill building. These skills will emphasize the importance of sharing knowledge in order to foster new and innovative ideas about the future of energy. 

Qmod has begun the groundwork for an Open Energy Platform, deployed through the help of learning institutions and makerspaces worldwide, allowing students to experiment and share ideas in a creative and hands-on environment. By allowing students of lower income to access this global resource, initiatives towards solving community energy needs can be more easily formulated, tested and implemented.

Track memberships of schools and makerspaces in online website. - 100 makerspaces worldwide contribute to a global Open Energy Platform.

Track community energy project leaders who sign up on website. - 20 communities participate in the Open Energy Platform.

Track sales of Energy Kits. - 500 units of Qmod Energy Kit distributed.

Many 21st Century skill building platforms tend to focus on one skill, coding. This leaves other important aspects out of the equation like life and career skills. Some of the more popular platforms include pre-made modular solutions that can be connected in predetermined combinations, leaving the imagination of the student stuck within the boundaries of the product. All of these solutions require batteries, and fail to address an area of education that is dearly needed all over the world. Sustainable energy.

For the past 2 years our team has been working with educators and students in South Africa, Mexico, India, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands testing and iterating our prototypes to ensure that our solutions are based on the needs of our users.

With these experiences we have developed tools and educational content to allow our users to learn and discover their own energy solutions through engagement. We intend to strengthen this engagement by developing a network of learning institutions and makerspaces focused on sharing user knowledge of sustainable energy worldwide. 

At the moment we are partnered with German energy company E.ON, who is supporting the development and distribution of our educational kit. We are also working with faculty members of the Tecnologico de Monterrey and the Universidad Centro in Mexico City, to begin research into communities that would benefit from our proposal and potential partners that could help us distribute our basic educational kit within these communities.

Qmod has decided to initially sell direct to various makerspaces and fablabs in the Netherlands as a beachhead market. This will help to establish connections with parents and eventually lead the way towards the larger Millennial Parents Educational Toy Market. Finally with the validation of parents, Qmod will direct efforts towards entering the Smart Education and Learning Market selling to large educational institutions. 

Revenue from these key markets will help fund kits to be distributed to communities in need.

One of our concern is to make the system cheaper to make it more affordable. 

Another issue is finding partners who will help us in getting governmental approval with helping educational institutions.

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I have always been drawn to the principles of Tim Brown and his perspective on Human Centered Design. He influenced my decision to study a masters in humanitarian design at the Design Academy Eindhoven, where I began following the MIT Media Lab and their innovative perspective on technology. I have since aspired to direct my efforts towards developing technology that not only helps individuals, but empowers them through community.

Applying to Solve, for me, is not only an opportunity to connect to an amazing network of HCD professionals, but an opportunity elevate my work through their 5 core values.

Qmod's current partners include local urban farming startup Rotterzwam, who introduced Qmod to the world of fungi and the potentials to generate energy from mushrooms. Energy company E.ON’s :agile accelerator, as well as faculty members of the Tecnologico de Monterrey and the Universidad Centro in Mexico City.

At the moment we truly feel that our project is unique from anything available on the market.