Wednesday 4 May 2011
Profile on… Cullin Innovation
Peter Cullin, Managing Director of Cullin Innovation Pty Ltd recently spoke to the AIC about the company’s journey along the commercialisation pathway. Cullin Innovation has designed and developed the Cullector™, a highly efficient and environmentally friendly shower.
1) Briefly describe your business
Cullin Innovation Pty Ltd is a 100% Australian owned company formed by Peter Cullin in 2006, with the aim of commercializing the Cullector™, the world’s most efficient shower. Cullin Innovation Pty Ltd is driven by a strong environmental and social ethic.
- Our Maxim: Planet and people before profit
- Our Mission: Commercialise the Cullector to preserve natural resources
- Our Vision: Every person who embraces the Cullector™ has a positive environmental impact. En masse this impact will be without precedent
- April 2010 - Winner New Inventors Episode Award
- November 2010 - Finalist Queensland Tropical Innovation Award
- April 2011 - Winner What’s your Big Idea Queensland Award
2) How did you generate the idea?
Every minute of every day, in millions of homes around the world quality fresh drinking water is lost to the drain due to inefficient showers. Water is wasted as we wait for our shower to warm up and when we adjust the taps whilst being splashed by cold water. Other problems such as needing to readjust the taps when switching off and back on to soap up or shampoo, not knowing when to get out and simply not being aware of these problems also make a huge contribution to unnecessary water loss. Market research indicated there was no simple elegant solution to this complex problem.Once I had a full understanding of the problem I set myself to the task of inventing the Cullector™. The Cullector™ was to eliminate all of the above problems and fill the market gap. It was to be DIY, retrofitable, inexpensive and self-powered.
The light bulb moment came when I realised I could capture the cold water before it escaped the rose and then mix the collected water back into the shower stream by venturi during the course of the shower. This would also increase the shower outflow and when the shower was finished the collected water would all be utilised. The second breakthrough came when I realised it was possible to change the port diameters of a typical three-way ball valve to create the desired venturi effect within the valve. This eliminated an unnecessary part and reduced the size of the mechanism considerably.
The final leap forward came when I was able to use the external housing of the valve as a watertight chamber to connect the collection reservoir with the outlet. This allows a small dribble to escape the rose at start up so the user can monitor and confirm the exact moment the correct temperature is achieved from within the shower cubicle without getting splashed by cold water. We could also mix some of the warm water back into the reservoir during the course of the shower to eliminate the spike in temperature created when the reservoir became empty.This was the elegant solution to the complex problem I had been looking for.It had taken five years, 14 prototypes and hundreds of iteration but finally the Cullector™ was born.
3) What made you decide to progress it from just an idea to a real business?
I was almost destined to be an inventor. My late father was the personification of the wild haired inventor and I am sure his successful radio and television repair business was just a cover and cash cow for his insatiable thirst for knowledge and a delight in discovery and creation. For example instead of painting our weatherboard fence with a brush like normal people, he decided to design and build a machine to help. He mounted an electric motor from an old washing machine onto a small cart and hooked it up to a modified 186 Holden water pump, added a tank and outlet hose and experimented with nozzle geometry until he could spray a creosote and sump oil mix in the desired pattern and volume. He also tracked satellites and invented the first live amateur radio band video link in the early sixties.
As a young boy I would follow Dad around his workshop hoping for the chance to dissect some helpless piece of equipment. My father’s workshop looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory, He also had a junk box that was full of disassembled bits and pieces of apparatus, magnets and old clocks. That was sort of my playground. That environment definitely helped me to develop the skills I have today. I never really did much with these skills and although I attempted several inventions that progressed to working models I never saw anything through to commercialisation. This is how all of that changed.
I had been half-heartedly working on an invention to remove the rocking and tipping associated with café tables placed on uneven ground. The table feet were to be small pistons all in fluid communication with each other. Press a button on the table to open the valves, level the table and release the button and the table will stay put. My drawings were complete and it was to be called The Rocker Stopper, but that is as far as it got.
The next week I was watching the ABC New Inventors program and what I thought was my invention was being featured on the program! I could not believe my eyes; it was like watching a B Grade horror movie in slow motion. To add insult to injury NASA had contacted the inventors with an interest in applying the invention to Mars landing craft and helicopter landing gear.
After the initial paranoia that someone had stolen my idea or overheard me talking about it at a café I realized for the first time that my ideas did in fact have commercial value and that they are as good as anybody else’s ideas. It is also just not good enough to have a good idea, you need to bring it kicking and screaming into the world. Saying you don’t know how to do it and that there is nobody out there that can help is simply not good enough, I needed to have the courage to dive into to the unknown and be prepared to learn as I went.
4) What were the main challenges faced?
I started the journey with the unbelievably naive idea that the entire process from concept to commercialisation would take about six months. I thought that once I had the initial working model up and running the magical, mystical, big industry people (who ever they are) would be knocking down my door with bags full of money and all I would have to do from that moment on would be sit on my new yacht sipping cocktails and dreaming up my next big thing. The biggest problem for me was what to do next.
5) What tips would you pass on to other entrepreneurs who are starting out?
From an inventors perspective the first thing I would recommend is to avoid recreating the wheel. Make sure you do a thorough search for any existing prior art by starting at ipaustralia.gov.au the web site also has a wealth of information for inventors, innovators, designers and entrepreneurs.
If you find no one else in the world has done what you propose to do, and it is within your own capability, go ahead and do it. Build a working prototype and test it in the real world. If you need to talk about your invention or require help in its development make sure you use confidentiality agreements.
Don’t apply for a provisional patent too soon as the invention can take many forms before you get it right.
Contact the Australian Institute for Commercialisation early in the process as they can supply you with a wealth of information in relation to government assistance, intellectual property issues and the various processes and pathways to commercialisation.
It’s not for the faint hearted, as any one that has ever walked into unknown territory will tell you. It can be a long and bumpy road and doubt will be your constant companion but for me it has been the most rewarding journey I have ever taken.
6) Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?
A wise man once told me that we learn more from our mistakes and our failures than from successes easily won. I must admit I have probably taken full advantage of most of the available mistakes on offer and have quite possibly created a few new ones, but I certainly have learned a lot in the process. So I can’t really say I would change a thing.
7) Where do you see the business in 5 years’ time?
In five years time the Cullector™ will be manufactured totally in Australia and exploiting export opportunities.
8) What would you suggest that the AIC strives to tell government in Australia about commercialisation?
I would hope the current government could be persuaded to reintroduce the small business field officers program to cover remote areas. Remote areas are the most fertile ground for innovation as the people in these areas can’t simply go to Bunnings and buy solutions off the shelf. You could most likely look in any shed in remote areas of Queensland and find a solution to a practical problem that could be commercialised.
Australians are a resourceful bunch by nature and this innovative knowhow can be leveraged for the benefit of all. For myself living in Far North Queensland I was able to demonstrate my first working prototype to our local Small Business Field Officer. He liked what he saw and recommended I contact AusIndustry and make application for the COMET (Commercialising Emerging Technologies Program).
I was successful in the application for funding. I could now undertake further market research, conduct focus groups, secure intellectual property protection and engage in prototype development and testing.Without this initial human contact and encouragement from the small business field officer my story could have ended there.
9) If you could have been responsible for any innovation, what would it be and why?
There are so many wonderfully innovative ideas that surround us every moment of every day, they sit unobtrusively in the background quietly doing their job, and in that context I would not know where to begin. We do really live in a world created in the imagination of our predecessors.
However, I feel the invention and ongoing evolution of the Internet is the most profound agent for change in the history of humanity. It brings the potential for a united planet and an opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas across the globe at the speed of light. I work in a small office in Far North Queensland and have access to a good chunk all acquired human knowledge via my laptop. To me that is priceless. Therefore the Internet gets the nod from me.
10) Which entrepreneur do you most admire and why?
Dick Smith has always been an inspiring figure in my life. He has always embraced that ‘good on you for having a go’ spirit and has the courage to stand up for and back what he believes in.
www.cullector.com
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