Safety, design and technology all combined in a soft and comfortable bracelet made in Italy, suitable for children, but bound to revolutionise the whole world of daily care.
It’s called “My Angel Care” and it’s the result of technology and the need for safety coming together and kept at hand, or rather at the wrist. My Angel Care is a silicon, water-resistant bracelet with an NFC (Near Field Communication) tag inside that lets you see all the medical information (but not solely) regarding a child or a grown-up through a smartphone or tablet.
“Presenting our start-up in Dublin is further acknowledgment of our idea’s merit“ stated Filippo Scorza, biomedical engineer from Genoa and co- founder. “ After being awarded the “Special Mention as Best Idea” at the Pioneer Festival in Vienna and ending up finalists for the Gaetano Marzotto Award as “best free mentoring and care course” at FabriQ in Milan, we have now been selected by the Web Summit Jury to present our project during the Dublin Event” explained Scorza. “This further recognition means a lot to us because we believe that international markets are My Angel Care’s natural outlet.”.
This simple, but innovative project responds to the need to turn potentially critical situations into easily dealt with and safe conditions for parents and their children and to simply improve their daily life – like enabling them to send their children to school or on a field trip with total peace mind.
The bracelet allows to read the data that are uploaded on a My Angel cloud database: blood group, medications to be taken at regular intervals, food allergies, guidelines for celiac disease or diabetes, particular diets to comply to, contact details of relatives to be called in case of need.
“My Angel Care is extremely easy to use, “ commented Riccardo Zanini, entrepreneur from Iseo, Italy and co-founder, “because you simply need to upload the first aid information on Cloud, have the person wear this soft and comfortable bracelet, and in case of need access the information by placing the bracelet close to a smartphone or a tablet. NFC technology allows for a short-range bidirectional wireless connectivity with no need for power charge.”.
The original idea and its evolution
The startup was born on board Startup Bus Italy 2013, the competition that sees European nations contend for the generation of new entrepreneurial projects, and was developed in just 72 hours. It’s a one-of-a-kind startup, thought out for children, but applicable to various other targets: from the elderly to women.
“Currently we are doing fine-tuning, “ said the founders “and we’ll be ready for market release by summer 2015. But that’s not all: we are also signing a deal with a multinational in the mobile sector so as to have My Angel Care installed directly on all its devices.”.
Convenience, safety and privacy: a 100% kid-friendly bracelet
When it comes to children, personal safety cannot forgo privacy protection. This is why My Angel Care designers have devised several levels of security, as described by Nicola Vezzoli, CEO of Sintattica, the partner web agency that managed the product’s IT development: “Privacy protection is a fundamental part of our job and this is why the product will have the guarantee from the Data Protection Authority that the information contained will be safeguarded in accordance with the highest European standards.”.
The data uploaded on cloud are not only protected by a encrypted key, but the user can decide which information is to be accessible by everyone (placing the bracelet close to an NFC smartphone) and which data to render visible only toauthorised people. Even the time span in which it is possible to view the information can be determined each time by the user. The bracelet is also 100% health-friendly: it is made of non-allergenic silicon and it is water-resistant, wave free and devoid of batteries.
A world of services always on one’s wrist
The bracelet, manufactured in different colours and textures, to be cool and appealing to children, aside from being useful, also provides several services:
- · DIRECT CALL: if you don’t have an NFC telephone it is possible to contact relatives through a toll free number and the bracelet’s identification code.
- · SELF HELP: should there not be a rescuer in the vicinity, you just need to place the telephone close to the bracelet and a pre-recorded emergency call will be activated. Moreover, the self-help application tracks your position through geo-location and sends this along.
- · DRUG ALARM: this system places an alert signal directly on the device to remind users when it’s time to take their medication. The reminder also sends a text message to the closest relative in order to double-check on actual intake (such as to a mother who needs to make sure her diabetic child has actually taken insulin).
My Angel Care, which is bound to revolutionise the world of children daily care, will be distributed in Italy starting summer 2015 at a positively reasonable price: just 29,90 euros. “We will start off with a test of around 5000 bracelets to be distributed to partners who work in different fields, such as big cruise ships, hospitals, retirement homes, schools, sports clubs, “ said Zanini, “as well as to a selected number of early adopters in order to further improve the service.”.
Whoever will buy the bracelet will also be provided with an identification card to be carried along (in one’s purse for instance) so that any rescuer who is not familiar with My Angel, will be able to figure out how to quickly access information via NFC.