If you’ve ever had young children, you’ll know that they need a booster seat in the car to use the seat belts safely. You’ll also know that they tend to be quite bulky, and a bit of a pain to carry around and transport between vehicles. Mifold is a portable car seat that holds down the child’s seatbelt, offering an alternative to bulky booster seats.

Traditionally, car safety seats for children work by lifting the child up to the height of the adult, so that the seatbelt can hold them securely in. Mifold inverts the process and holds down the seatbelt instead, offering parents an affordable, convenient alternative to bulky booster seats.  Since it is light and portable it can be taken easily from vehicle to vehicle.

I mention it for two reasons:

1. Because the product might be useful to you.

2. As a mental springboard. What the developers have done here is take the usual solution (raise up the child) and reverse it (lower down the belt). Reversing the solution to a problem can often lead to new ideas. How might you use this?

Website: www.mifold.com

Ever been to a restaurant that seemed under-staffed? Well I bet it had nothing on Amsterdam-based Foodsy, a restaurant with no staff at all. Customers cook, serve and even pay themselves using the food, equipment and instructions provided.

Guests are  provided with a menu of recipe cards that they can use to cook for themselves. There are also instructions for how to pour a beer and the best setting to make their own coffee. Once they have eaten, guests simply pay for their meal using an iPad app.

Foodsy is a pop up temporary restaurant at the moment, but it could be worth keeping an eye on how the concept is received.

Website: www.foodsy.amsterdam