This year, NMU-CHINA used biosynthetic methods to create LuminAid, an innovative light-emitting bacterium. We plan to incorporate it into our spacesuits to provide a precise positioning solution for astronauts in deep space exploration. At the same time, it also shows great potential for applications on the planet. We can terrasify it and equip it with a life jacket to accurately locate the location of the person who has fallen into the water, which greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of sea rescue.
In order to translate this innovative idea into tangible results for the benefit of humanity and successfully apply it to the field of space exploration and maritime safety, our team has conducted in-depth research on the demand gap of potential customers and conducted comprehensive and detailed market insights over the past few months, mainly in the field of life jackets. Based on this, we analyzed and planned the functional characteristics of LuminAid's products, the expertise of our team, and the path to future commercialization. In order to achieve the realization from the lab to the market, our team has worked tirelessly on the business strategy to ensure that LuminAid is not only a theoretical innovation, but also a social force that solves practical problems and creates value.
The background, pain points, opportunities, target customers, stakeholders, and product users are elaborated here.
The total area of the Earth's oceans is about 360 million square kilometers, or about 71% of the Earth's surface area. With the development of the ocean and the increasing frequency of maritime activities, the number of people in distress at sea has also increased significantly. In the first two months of 2024, maritime search and rescue centers at all levels across the country organized and coordinated a total of 195 search and rescue operations, rescuing a total of 1,299 people in distress[1]. In addition, the survival rate of personnel in distress at sea is relatively low: personnel distress often occurs in the vast sea area, which makes the person who falls into the water easily affected by currents, waves and tides, and quickly moves away from the place of the incident, which greatly increases the difficulty of rescue positioning. At the same time, drifting at sea for long periods of time can lead to dehydration, starvation, and hypothermia, so it is important to find the victim quickly and accurately.
In recent years, there has been an alarm and positioning device for people overboard at sea based on inertial guidance, wireless communication, satellite positioning and navigation and other technologies and gradually equipped with large ships[2], although compared with the early light strip, smoke, position indicator light, whistle and other devices have greatly improved the rescue efficiency, but there are still a series of shortcomings such as high cost, poor stability, rough range, high power consumption, short standby time, poor portability (see product module for details). How to design a stable, low-energy, strong-signal, and accurate signal mode has become a difficult problem for people to tackle.
The problems described in the pain points also cause us NMU-igemers to think. By chance, we saw the beautiful scenery of Dalian fluorescent sea on the Internet, and we had a flash of inspiration, whether we can equip this fluorescent to the life jacket, through the means of synthetic biology, so that it can have a strong light without external energy! That's why we designed our product – a life jacket with LuminAid.
IGEM NMU designs life jackets with LuminAid for commercial shipping companies, fishing vessels, government and sea rescue agencies, recreational yacht and cruise ship passengers, and water sports enthusiasts, among others. These companies offer a wide range of ocean freight services across the globe, covering a wide range of sectors from container transportation to bulk cargo transportation. They are industry leaders who are willing to take responsibility for the safety of people at sea, thus investing in our products. Finally, they should agree to our security and responsibility format and adhere to it throughout the cooperation process. For example, COSCO Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, United States Presidential Steamship (APL), Japan Yusen (NYK) and ships are the main customers we are considering in the future. Of course, in addition to these large companies, small companies are also potential users.
We analyzed the stakeholders with fluorescently positioned life jackets from upstream, midstream, and downstream and made a flow chart.
The target users of our products are ship crew, marine workers, fishermen, ship passengers and crew. These are people who are closely related to our products, and they may have been killed or seen in distress. It can be said that once our products are qualified for use in large quantities, they will be the biggest beneficiaries. Based on our survey of some of our target users (see Human Practice for details), they also have a positive attitude towards our products and think that the product design is new and ingenious.
At the same time, our products will also provide users with detailed and accurate ways to use.
Product, competition, market analysis, cost analysis, and intellectual property are elaborated here.
Fluorescent Positioning Life Jacket.
This product is a combination of innovative technology and safety concept of fluorescent positioning life jacket, designed for marine operators and water sports enthusiasts. In the event of a shipwreck or emergency, the fluorescent positioning life jacket can quickly respond to environmental changes, and the built-in freeze-dried bacterial powder package emits blue fluorescence when activated by water, significantly improving the rescue positioning efficiency and winning valuable survival time for those in distress.
Maritime navigation and operation: For fishermen, seafarers and offshore oil exploration workers who have been working at sea for a long time, intelligent fluorescent positioning life jackets can automatically send out fluorescent signals in emergency situations to help search and rescue teams quickly locate.
Water sports and leisure: Suitable for surfing, windsurfing, kayaking and other water sports enthusiasts, in the event of accidental falling into the water or lost, the automatic fluorescence function can greatly improve the chance of being found.
Shipwreck rescue: In shipwreck accidents such as ship sinking and personnel falling into the water, the fluorescent positioning function of the life jacket has become a key life guide, providing important support for survival and rescue.
①Main material: made of high-strength, waterproof polyester fiber material.
②Buoyancy system: built-in multiple high-density closed-cell foam materials to ensure that wearers can keep their heads above water even when tired or unconscious, in line with international safety standards.
③Reflective strip, reflective whistle and fluorescent sign: the front and back of the life jacket and the side are equipped with high-brightness reflective strip, which can be found remotely at night or in low-light environments to improve safety. At the same time, the built-in safety whistle can emit a loud whistle in emergency time to attract the attention of the surrounding personnel and increase the chance of rescue.
④Quick wear system: The one-pull design allows the wearer to quickly put on the life jacket in case of emergency. Plastic fasteners and adjustable nylon webbing ensure that the pocket does not misopen during operation.
⑤Freeze-dried bacterial powder pack: The front storage bag of the life jacket is equipped with freeze-dried bacterial powder wrapped by folded nanofibers. (The nanofibers are based on polypropylene and made by electrostatic spinning technology) When the nanofiber is unrolled, the freeze-dried bacteria powder in it can be activated by water to produce fluorescence. Among them, the nanofibers are mainly prepared by electrostatic spinning technology, which has good biocompatibility and the characteristics of simulating natural extracellular matrix, and is suitable for algal bacteria system to maintain activity on the sea surface for a long time.
⑥PFD quick release device: there is a traction rope connecting pull ring on the back, which is used to connect the quick release traction rope and escape quickly in distress.
Wear: Take the life jacket out of the storage bag and put it on quickly through the quick wear system.
Unfold: After wearing, pull down the handle to unfold the filter membrane containing freeze-dried bacterial powder content in the storage bag. The freeze-dried bacterial powder is activated when it meets water and expresses the balloon protein at the same time, making the filter membrane most likely to unfold on the water surface and form a blue fluorescent circle.
Wait for rescue: Use the buoyancy of the life jacket to stay afloat, while sending a distress signal and waiting for rescue.
①Advantages:
Safety, Reliability, Practicality: high-strength waterproof material and buoyancy system to ensure the safety of the wearer.
Quick effect: no need for the manual operation.It brightens when it meets water, thus improving rescue efficiency.
Wide range of applications: Marine navigation and operation, water sports and leisure, maritime rescue.
Double visibility: A combination of reflective strips, fluorescent markers and automatic fluorescence for increased visibility 24/7.
②Disadvantages:
Higher cost.
At present, the alarm and positioning devices for people overboard at sea are mainly divided into the following four categories:①alarm and positioning devices based on radio measurements;②Alarm positioning device based on wireless communication;③Alarm positioning device based on global positioning and wireless communication;④Alarm positioning device based on Beidou navigation system[2].
| Targeting method | Localizability | shortcoming |
|---|---|---|
| Alarm positioning device based on radio measurement | The effective distance is <4 n mile, and the positioning accuracy is not high, and the error is hundreds of meters | The current technology requires user memory and comprehensive application of a large number of measurement data in the process of use, which has high requirements for the user himself. It causes the shortcomings of inconvenient equipment use, long training time, high judgment error rate, and long positioning time. | Even more than wireless communication | The effective distance is from a few nautical miles to more than a dozen nautical miles | The data transfer rate is low, the power consumption is high, and the cost is relatively high |
| Alarm positioning device based on global positioning and wireless communication | The effective distance is related to the wireless communication mode, which is within a few hundred meters to more than ten nautical miles. The positioning accuracy is very high, and the error is within tens of meters | Temperature has a significant impact on LoRa communication performance. Studies have shown that elevated temperatures can significantly degrade the performance of LoRa links and may even lead to a near-failure of communications |
| Alarm positioning device based on Beidou navigation system | The positioning range is limited by the satellite coverage area, and the positioning accuracy is very high, and the error is within tens of meters | In a highly dynamic environment, the Beidou system may be subject to signal interference in the face of severe weather conditions such as strong winds, heavy rains, and heavy snow. In the middle and high latitudes, due to the small number of Beidou visible satellites and poor satellite distribution, the positioning accuracy is poor or cannot be located |
| A flashlight in a regular life jacket | Targeting is limited | The light range is small and the battery life is short |
| A life guard equipped in a regular life jacket | Targeting is extremely limited | The sound is small, and it consumes a lot of physical strength of the victims |
| LuminAid | The range is large, the visibility is high, there is no need for external energy supply, self-support, not affected by external factors, and the person in distress is accurately located |
There are many challenges in the technical development and application popularization of marine alarm positioning devices, and our products can better complement these alarm positioning devices:
①The engineering bacteria are autotrophic, do not need to be artificially provided with energy from the outside, and last longer. And only a small packet of freeze-dried powder and life jackets can be carried, which is miniaturized and convenient. But at the same time, the range of light is large enough and the brightness is bright enough to allow rescuers to find the victims in time.
②The existing radiocommunication technology and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are susceptible to interference and tampering, such as interference from complex maritime environments or interference from satellite distribution, while our engineering bacteria will not be affected by external factors. It surrounds the person who fell into the water and accurately locates the specific person who fell into the water, and is not limited by the communication location.
③Even if the various alarm positioning devices are accurate, it is difficult to accurately locate the individual, and can only locate a rough position, while our engineering bacteria can accurately locate the encountered personnel.
Overall, our engineered bacteria can be applied together with other marine rescue equipment to complement each other. Other marine alarm positioning technologies can achieve a rough range of positioning, while our engineering bacteria can accurately locate the specific person who has fallen into the water, which is also the pain point of our product directly hitting the user, and it is the unique selling point of the product.
About the competing products of life jackets: There are many manufacturers of life jackets, including Xingtai, Jiangbo, INTEX, Aerospace Lifesaving Equipment, Huayan Hwayan and so on in China[3]. Here are a few examples.
①Name: Xingtai (Wuxi Xingtai Marine Equipment Co., Ltd.)
Trademark:
Registration number: 5438934
Official website: https://www.dtjhsb.com/
②Name: JIANGBO (Dongtai Jianghai Lifesaving Fire Equipment Co., Ltd.)
Trademark:
Registration number: 5438934
Official website: https://www.dtjhsb.com/
These companies have been established for a long time and are more experienced in making life jackets. However, the life jackets they sell only meet international standards and do not make further innovations. Our products are a combination of the above two competitive products, which not only meet the standards of life jackets but also alarm devices, which is the pain point of our products directly to users, and is also a unique selling point, which is the foundation for us to have confidence in the highly competitive market.
In recent years, although the overall trend of marine accidents around the world has slowed down, the number remains high[4]. About 200,000 people die each year as a result of shipwrecks, of which 50,000 drown directly after a shipwreck, and another 50,000 die on life-saving equipment in non-extreme conditions[5]. This data reveals the importance of timely rescue of those killed, as well as the potential market for our products. According to statistics, the market size of the life jacket industry is showing a growing trend, and it is estimated that by 2025, the global market size will reach 8 billion US dollars[6]. In recent years, thanks to the promotion of downstream demand, China's life jacket market has developed rapidly, and the industry is currently in a period of steady development. In the future, it is expected that with the development of boats, airplanes and other means of transportation, as well as rafting, fishing, and water sports, there is still room for growth in the market demand for life jackets in China[7]. In addition, there are no competitors or sales of the same products in the Chinese market, our future market size is relatively large, and the market revenue is relatively good.
①Life jackets: Different types of life jackets, such as marine life jackets and offshore life jackets, differ in performance. This difference in performance can lead to different costs, as manufacturers need to produce different specifications for different application needs. For example, life jackets used on large fishing vessels or international voyages may require higher safety features and more complex manufacturing processes, increasing costs[8].
| Life jacket form requirements | Work life jackets《JT/T107-1991》 | Work life jackets* | life jackets《GB4303-2008》 | life jackets《MSC resolution》 | life jackets《ISO 12402-4》 | life jackets(CCS for inland waterway boats) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suitable for water | China's inland rivers and seas | China's inland rivers and seas | Unlimited Navigation Zone | Unlimited Navigation Zone | Sheltered waters | China's inland rivers |
| Use | For crew work | For crew work | Crew lifesaving | Crew lifesaving | Crew lifesaving | Crew lifesaving |
| Buoyancy and loss of buoyancy | Buoyancy ≥ 73.5 N | Normal, buoyancy ≥ 74 N Warm, buoyancy ≥ 84 N | Buoyancy loss≤5% | Buoyancy loss≤5% | Buoyancy > 100N,Buoyancy loss≤5%，Flip time: 10s, net height > 80mm | Buoyancy > 100N,Buoyancy loss≤5%，Flip time: 5s, net height > 80mm |
| Water immersion performance | Just keep it upright or leaning back | Just keep it upright or leaning back | Each index is compared with RTD (standard fitting) to judge | Each index is compared with RTD (standard fitting) to judge | The plane angle shall not be less than 30°, and the average > 40°. The trunk angle must not be the trunk angle. Below 20°, the average > 30° | The plane angle shall not be less than 30°, and the average > 40°. The trunk angle must not be the trunk angle. Below 20°, the average > 30° |
Here is a rough example: after our investigation, the life jacket made of 420D twill oxford cloth is about 30.5 yuan for children of 30-80 pounds, and about 33.5 yuan for adults of 90-170 pounds.his kind of life jacket has flood control, boating, fishing, rafting, rescue and other uses, and is suitable for a variety of scenarios.
②Filter membrane: For the filter membrane, we use electrospinning technology and nanofibers prepared from polypropylene. This material is about 8025 per square meter, and the fluorescence plane is about 15 square meters, so each piece needs to filter 15×2×8025=240750 yuan. Although the current price is relatively expensive, we believe that through the continuous development of science and technology, the price of the filter membrane may decrease in the future.
③Freeze-dried powder: Mass-produced freeze-dried powder is relatively cheap, about RMB 15 per gram. Because we have a good fluorescence effect and high brightness in the experiment, it is enough to put 1 gram of lyophilized powder in the filter membrane of each life jacket. The cost of lyophilized powder per product is 1×15=15 yuan.
We can take advantage of China's developed express delivery industry to deliver products to their destinations. Taking the most common postal express as an example, the price of ordinary parcels in China is between 5-12 yuan[9], and the lower shipping cost can deliver the product to the customer in good condition.
In order to protect our ideas and technologies and gain a competitive advantage in the market, our team will adopt the following intellectual property strategies: first, file patent applications to protect our innovative products and technologies, and use patents as bargaining chips in business negotiations; secondly, to design trademarks to enhance brand recognition and consumer trust, and help market expansion; Finally, establish a copyright protection mechanism to prevent infringement and ensure that our legitimate rights and interests are safeguarded.
Mission and vision, team strength, financial analysis, and business analysis are elaborated here
Our team conducted a series of brainstorming to design LuminAid, and in order to truly apply the idea to life jackets, parachutes, spacesuits, etc., we are committed to applying it to life jackets, parachutes, spacesuits, etc., through innovative and excellent products, to ensure the safety of every marine activity and space operator. We aspire to build a widely recognized and trusted brand image that will be the first choice for consumers, businesses and governments when choosing life jackets, parachutes, and spacesuits.
The NMU-CHINA team consists of 18 people with great ambition and determination. Everyone has their own areas of expertise, including synthetic biology, modeling, entrepreneurship, human practice, design, etc., and they are dedicated to their own areas of responsibility. At the same time, the team actively communicated and brainstormed, which allowed us to turn our initial ideas into reality. We are a strong team with team members doing their part, going deep into all aspects and summarizing feedback, which plays a deterministic role in the effective decision-making and business process of our team's entrepreneurship. At the same time, we will continue to work hard and forge ahead! What's more, the team has strong resources, we have received guidance and advice from the teachers of the Department of Biophysics at NMU, as well as strong support from NMU and a series of suggestions from stakeholders from many human practices. Overall, the whole team has the necessary capabilities and external support to start a business, and is constantly working hard to optimize itself, which is a trustworthy partner!
In order to execute our business plan, a financial plan and a projection of funds are developed here.
①Early stage: In the initial stage, we will seek academic and scientific research funding to focus on developing the core technology of the product to ensure its unique value. We plan to work with universities and startups to secure early-stage funding and build long-term partnerships with suppliers and sponsors to reduce costs and access the necessary resources.
②Medium-term: At this stage, we have completed the preliminary production of the product. We will participate in startup competitions to attract investors and showcase product features and business potential.
③Late stage: In the later stage, we will show the commercial value of the product and attract more investors. We develop a financing plan, clarify the use of the funds and expected returns, and promote the business through social media, industry events, and startup networking sessions. The expertise of our team and the unique selling point of our products are key to attracting investment.
First of all, we should come up with the necessary funds to apply to our company's various costs (such as product costs, human resource costs, etc.) and various production equipment and maintenance.
Remaining funds:
①50% is used for further research and development of product: Once the product is on the market, we will use market feedback to continuously optimize and upgrade it to ensure that the product remains competitive and market value. The funds will be used for market research and user feedback collection to launch an improved new generation of products.
②30% goes to marketing: In order to attract investment and users, we will invest in marketing strategies such as advertising, social media and content marketing to increase brand awareness and expand the Chinese market. At the same time, stimulate purchases through promotions such as discounts, gift giveaways, and prize sales, as well as provide personalized service and one-on-one marketing to meet the specific needs of customers.
③20% for business development: The funds will be used to recruit high-calibre team members, including R&D, sales, marketing, and management personnel, as well as to hire product consulting experts to communicate with competitors for inspiration for product improvements.
So far, our business plan is still in the preliminary stages of planning and implementation. Regarding the resources, risks, positive and negative impacts of future development, etc., we have done the following SWOT analysis:
