Big Idea Winner Scoops Up £10,000
Karl Dorn is a plasterer by day and inventor by night. His winning idea, The Standby Plug, won Vodafone’s online competition ‘What’s your Big Idea?’.
Dorn invented a plug that can be fitted to any appliance with a standby mode–TVs, washing machines, videos, DVDs etc. When the appliance goes into standby, his Standby Plug senses it and switches the appliance off.
In the UK alone we waste £740 million a year from leaving things on standby. Not only does Karl’s idea have a cost-saving purpose, it helps save the planet from harmful CO2 emissions.
Karl began working on his idea about three months ago and has so far spent £1,300 on the working prototype and another £1,000 on the patent. He’s currently looking for a manufacturer.
He has two pieces of advice for budding inventors; “keep it simple� and “always try to patent your ideas�. He should know. Dorn already has other patents filed and a further 20 products in development.
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