Editor’s Note: Shivvy Jervis is the creator and presenter of Digital Futures and a Britain’s Women of the Future 2014 nominee
Story highlights
Digital Futures presenter Shivvy Jervis chooses her tech heroes for 2015
She predicts these women will change our lives in the next 12 months
Their inventions range from food printers to genetic databases
If anyone was going to create a time machine that could tell us the big tech inventions of 2015, it’s these women.
From a super strong moldable glue, to 3D food printers, and laboratories growing human bones, these are the big ideas from some of science’s brightest minds.
These seven “tech superheroes” are set to have a major impact on our lives in the next 12 months, according to Shivvy Jervis, creator and presenter of innovation series, Digital Futures.
She predicts the ones to watch in 2015.
1. The tech-for-good contender
Who: Rosalind Picard, co-founder of computing and human analytics start-up Empatica, and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s media lab.
Nationality: American
Age: 52
Big idea: A smartwatch, called “Embrace,” that uses sensors to gauge the wearer’s stress levels and provide medical readings.
Why it matters: The prime purpose of this nifty device isn’t merely to tell us when we’re feeling irked. It is aimed at those with epilepsy by helping detect convulsive seizures.
2. The social cause defender
Who: Desiree Vargas Wrigley, co-founder and CEO of crowdfunding medical platform, Giveforward.
Nationality: Costa Rican
Age: 32
Big idea: A website dedicated to crowdsourcing medical expenses which has so far raised over $100 million. The money goes towards things such as travel for medical treatment, equipment, “bucket lists” for terminal illness, and funeral costs.
Why it matters: It opens up the power of the masses to those who desperately need funding for critical medical treatment.
3. The not-so-mad scientist
Who: Jane ní Dhulchaointigh, inventor of new material Sugru.
Nationality: Irish
Age: 35
Big idea: A moldable glue, called “Sugru,” that sticks to anything from glass to wood, and turns into a strong, flexible rubber overnight.
Why it matters: This self-setting material allows people to “hack their products” – modifying, fixing, and generally making regular objects better. Added to that, Sugru is waterproof, adhesive, and heat-resistant.
4. The ace forecaster
Who: Kathryn Myronuk, Director of Research at Singularity University
Nationality: American-Canadian
Age: 45
Big idea: Described as a “knowledge sommelier” by WIRED magazine, Myronuk helped create Singularity University in Silicon Valley – an organization devoted to studying how different technologies will affect the world over the next decade.
Why it matters: Myronuk’s focus is on unearthing and forecasting the truly high impact ideas that will shape our futures. She specializes in rapidly changing technologies.