Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Blue Future Filters as a "Disruptive Technology"

We were talking around the office a couple of days ago about so called disruptive technologies. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were masters at this. A disruptive technology is something that simplifies an existing technology and then out competes in the market. The i-phone and i-pad are great examples. The i-phone swarmed the cell phone market with the added plus of a convenient camera and other features. The personal computer came in to make computing available without a mainframe and remote access at a terminal. These inventions totally disrupted the normal way of conducting our personal and professional lives.

Blue Future Filters started in 2003 on work by myself dating back to the early 90s. My concept was clear. The wonderful technology responsible for saving so many lives- slow sand filtration, was practiced by large engineering firms for communities and cities through large scale construction projects costing millions of dollars. I came from a different background, more consumer and distribution oriented and thought if we could turn this from a custom engineered big project focus to a manufatured approach, we could standardize, bring costs way down, and enter a potential market.

Over the years we developed a series of standard models that complied with regulations for drinking water. By combining standard inexpensive models, we changed the scale of the projects. Suddenly a project manager didn't have to plan for a 50 year life with all the expense that entails. They could look at a few years knowing they could easily add on and expand as the need arose.

In this way, Blue Future, is continuing to disrupt the standard way of approaching treating surface water for safety for individuals and communities worldwide. We are bringing to market an old established technology in new skin creating a disruptive technology to the benefit of the world.