ReidPass Competes in I2P Competition in Brazil
The concept of the I2P competitions refers to “applying creative thought to a technology (‘Idea’) and developing a market application (‘Product’) for that technology; thus creating a match between a technology and a societal (or market) need.”
This year, KTH Associate Professor Terrence Brown and team Reid (formerly, Physical Password Manager) are heading to Juiz de Fora in Brazil to compete in the I2P Competition Finals.
The team have developed an idea for a physical accesory that acts as a password repository, connecting to one’s laptop and automatically logging into sites without actually leaving any passwords on the user’s machine. The device resembles a futuristic pocket watch, with fingerprint log-in, virtual haptic feedback via LED lights, an on-screen display, and will feature wireless charging for increased user-friendliness as well as near-field communication for added connectivity.
The team consists of five promising entrepreneurs:
- Matthias, studying industrial design engineering at KTH.
- Paula, studying Business Economics, with a specialization in marketing and accounting at SSE.
- Anna, studying Business Economics at SSE.
- Lovisa studying Business Economics, with a specialization in marketing at SSE.
- Rolf, studying industrial design engineering at KTH.
In just two and a half months, the team have refined the ReidPass solution as well as their relationship by being able to bounce ideas back and forth and becoming more efficient as a team, citing their unique backgrounds as an a contributing factor.
The idea came from Rolf around two and half months ago, when he decided his mother’s paper notepad of scribbled passwords wasn’t a reasonable solution for password storage. This led him to the idea for a small physical device as a password aggregator, with the key features being physical (hardware), user-friendliness, offline functionality, and great industrial design. He was reluctant to pitch the idea, deciding finally to pitch it to his class and form a group because all of the other groups were taken.
The name evolved from Physical Password Manager to Reid, (pronounced reɪd) coming from the Elder Futhark (Proto-Norse) alphabet letter ᚱ, which is a symbol for safety and security.
The team is confident that developing their idea in Stockholm will yield uniquely auspicious results. Startups have the advantage of riding the crest of world-renowned scandinavian design. The team also places great value on the helpfulness of the community, and notes the active help and feedback recieved along the way as emblematic of the Swedish community. The team percieve Swedes to be early adopters of innovation products, making the country a great test ground for consumer innovation experiments.
On a technical level, the team believes the costs of preliminary hardware prototyping are actually relatively affordable in Sweden, where aluminum molds are cheaper than using steel molds sourced from China.
The competition runs until December 29th. More info about I2P competitions can be found here.
Best of luck to ReidPass in Brazil!
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