Introducing the First Winner of Obvious Venture’s #worldpositive Prize

Last month, the seventh annual Kairos Summit was held in Los Angeles, celebrating 50 of the most exciting and innovative entrepreneurs and start-ups to tackle the world’s major problems. Though the event is well established by now, this year had a novel twist in the shape of the first ever #worldpositive prize.

Established this year by Obvious Ventures (which is itself a collaboration between Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter and James Joaquin of when.com and Xoom fame), the $50,000 prize seeks to reward those who think outside of the box to tackle global systemic issues, specifically via the use of disruptive methods.

Rewarding Innovation

Back in May, Obvious Ventures announced that it had reached its $100 million fundraiser target, despite being less than a year old. In fact, the maths geeks at the company decided to take advantage of the over-subscription to their cause and set the fundraising limit at $123,456,789. Though the number itself was something of a tongue-in-cheek gag, the causes which the money will be used for most certainly aren’t.

Targeting the three specific areas of healthy living, sustainable systems and people power, Obvious Ventures have signalled their intent to use the money to fund entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses which seek to overcome these challenges head-on. In particular, they value the following qualities:

• Companies or individuals which offer real and disruptive solutions to looming challenges in the modern world
• Companies or individuals which employ a mix of design finesse, business acumen and technological know-how
• Companies or individuals which possess a unique and vital technology that stands up to scrutiny

With these ideas in mind, Obvious Ventures selected Chemisense as the deserving recipient of their generous stipend, a Berkeley-based environmental sensor company in California. Chemisense are responsible for developing wearable air monitoring technology which outstrips all of its competitors, in an age where the cleanliness of our environment - both indoor and outdoor - is of paramount concern.

Obvious Ventures clearly recognise in Chemisense the potential to achieve a vast, comprehensive and real-time analysis of the cleanliness of our air, and have pledged their commitment to work with the company to develop the product and bring it to a global market.

Air Monitoring – Flavour of the Week

Growing concerns about the safety of the air we breathe and the proliferation of pollutant elements in it has led to great strides being made in the field of air monitoring. Whereas traditionally, all of the data regarding pollution levels in the air was done by governmental units and gathered centrally, a new approach to air quality appears to be gradually taking hold of the sphere.

Instead of localising all sensors, receptors and analyses, air monitoring is taking on a more portable, flexible and communal aspect day by day. Chemisense’s wearable devices show how environmental consciousness is being made available to all who wish to partake in it, thus increasing our overall comprehension of the state of our planet and affording us greater opportunities to do something about it.