Ethar Alali, the CEO of Axelisys, is having lunch when I call him for an interview. Even so, he’s happy to detail his company’s achievements, and equally fascinating creative structure. He tells me they do three things. Number one, outsourced R & D and prototyping, number two, software development, and before he has chance to explain number three, I’m jumping in with a question.
Prototyping what? “Of whatever our clients need. Brand new tech, cutting edge stuff. We were recently asked to look at flex displays in packaging and marketing. Imagine product packaging as a flexible display. Bendable, dynamic.”
I jump in with another question because the Manchester based firm might just be toying with graphene applications, being in the hometown of that invention. “No, not to do with graphene but we have had other conversations regarding that. This is dynamic packaging, packing that becomes advertising, [for example,] we worked on packaging for a drinking glass. Cross branding – the possibilities are pretty expansive.”
Dynamic packaging: You heard it first here. That’s definitely got to be a thing of the future, no? Packaging that moves, selling stuff from the packaging of other stuff. It might get a bit hectic visually, but it wouldn’t be a great leap to imagine a bottle of hair product that moved to attract your attention, or a million other variations of that. It’s gonna happen sooner than later, and with e-inks it’s almost surprising it isn’t already here. I digress.
Ethar continues, “We built an IoT platform going live imminently, relating to social care and care in the community. The issue is not enough resources, so what they are trying to do is find ways to reduce costs and make everything more effective, because there’s a big knock-on effect. When social care is ineffective it leads to NHS pressure.
For example, an elderly person has a fall because of lack of social care, now it’s costing tens of thousands for a hip operation rather than hundreds for a preventative solution. And that’s just the financial implication, not the human. Of course the systems are not joined up, and there’s a lot of people who can’t afford social care.
We are working to create a system for Manchester to try to deliver these devices, like augmented fire alarms and smoke alarms who can notify care teams and family if something is wrong in the house, to create a smart home scenario that can support care sectors. We’re working with City Verve, a collective consortium of 23 organisations across Manchester City Council, creating a platform on top of the council’s own technology stack.”
Lunch with Ethar is continued next month with the smartest way to create software that I’ve heard yet.
Ethar Alali, CEO, Axelisys http://www.axelisys.co.uk/
Originally printed in the 15th edition of The FintechTimes
