It’s not a scene from Mission Impossible or James Bond: fantasies of virtual screens popping out with just a finger-touch are now becoming true, thanks to an Egyptian innovation called the Touch Sticker technology.
Haitham Desoky and his startup ViviFi came up with this gadget that converts surfaces like wood, fabric or glass into touchscreens by placing a transparent sticker under them.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQS5gSIEw9E]“I was actually working on another invention: a ring computer mouse that you wear in your finger – enabling you to work with all the functions of a normal computer wirelessly. So I needed to remove normal buttons, and after a long time of research I came up with the new touch sticker technology”, Desoky told VC4Africa.
From smart menus fixed on restaurants’ walls, touch advertising storefronts where customers can interact with items by touching the shop window, to smart furniture and interactive hospital switches: this technology promises a 360 degree turn in consumer habits.
Desoky’s company ViviFi took off thanks to a $70,000 investment that helped turn the prototype into a real product. “The next milestone is to start production, and this would require around USD $1.2m. We are now trying to find investors”, he says. The company is looking for partnerships with large technology manufacturers in African, North American and European markets.
For more information – ViviFi’s Facebook Page.
