1. Hello, Robert, please introduce yourself to our readers.
I have a background working in the pharmaceutical industry R&D developing medicines. In my last role as Head of Health Innovation/Head of Health Transformation at RB I became involved in digital health. In 2016 I co-founded FiftyFourDegreesNorth with a former colleague, Andrew who is an expert in digital, our aim was to bring to market a number of digital health products. I also have an innovation company called Edenic where we help clients be DISRUPTIVE, think DIFFERENTLY and embrace DIGITAL. We work with a lot of companies the Health sector as we have good links there, but also because digital has such a wide application in that sector and so many incumbent businesses are thinking about how they deliver a digital product offering to work alongside their current portfolio.
2. What is Fifty Four Degrees North and what problem it is your trying to solve?
FiftyFourDegreesNorth is the umbrella name for our company we have a number of digital products in development for various Health applications. For example we are very close to completing FLX which is a digital product that maintains musculoskeletal health by detecting biomechanical problems and addressing them with physiotherapy exercises. We have clinical data showing that it can reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal issues by up to 65% and can address low levels of body pain. It is the first digital product proven to prevent biomechanical issues.
Musculoskeletal disease is one of the most prevalent health issues in the world and most solutions address the symptoms, not the problem. With FLX we are providing a preventative tool to help people maintain health biomechanics to reduce the risk of future musculoskeletal disease. We also help people to maintain good biomechanical function, which allows them to remain physically active which is the cornerstone of good health.
Fundamentally we are looking to provide health solutions without a bias for how things are done today. We believe this makes our offerings quite disruptive. When it comes to body pain and musculoskeletal disease pharmaceutical companies tend to turn to medicines, and health care professionals turn to their training. We aim to provide solutions that give people alternatives, that hopefully keep them healthy so they don’t need to take medicines or interact with healthcare systems. This is the holy grail, but often not the primary aim of pharmaceutical companies who make money from selling medicines, or highly trained well paid medics who wish to deploy their medical training.
3. How did the idea for your business come about?
It came from our corporate learning of what a huge potential there is for disruptive innovation in health, driven primarily by digital technology. It is hard to move this innovation forward in a large corporate organisation that is already very successful making money selling traditional products. So we thought we’d try to launch our own disruptive health innovation as FiftyFourDegreesNorth.
With Edenic we use our skills and network to help companies address three areas that incumbent businesses tend to struggle with:
- Be DISRUPTIVE. This is a call to action to be innovative to keep your business moving forward, and intrinsically defend against disruption. These incumbent businesses know their markets well and should be able to use this to overcome the urge to continue making money in the same way, and serve their market in a disruptive way.
- Think DIFFERENTLY. All companies within a sector tend to employ similar people who think in a certain way. This helps their day to day business but may block innovation.
- Embrace DIGITAL. Digital is revolutionising all aspects of business, whilst not all innovation has to be digital, the most innovative companies should look at it as a source for innovation.
4. How did you choose the name of your company?
FiftyFourDegreesNorth is the latitude of our location in Hull, East Yorkshire and we thought is sounded good! But it’s also an ethos, we’re trying to use the digital talent in our city as it makes sense for our business and makes us feel good to be working with our local digital community. A community that is thriving in our post-industrial working-class town around the privately funded, rapidly growing Centre For Digital Innovation (C4DI) where we are based.
Edenic means from the Garden of Eden and hints at creation which is central to innovation. We have methodologies we use called Eve and products we provide called Adam.
5. What are your target customers?
FiftyFourDegreesNorth digital products like FLX are for people who want to stay healthy and who are looking for more holistic ways to do that. We want to help the population move away from ‘Adding Years to Life’ to ‘Adding Life to Years’. In other words we support people to live long lives with a high quality of life due to being healthy.
With Edenic we work with companies and organisations who want to innovate.
6. How do you and your colleagues discover new innovations? What tools or approaches are you using for that?
All the best innovation comes from combining Stimulus and Insight. Stimulus is about technology, trends, competitor activity, and other enablers. Insight is about understanding your market and most importantly your consumer, what they need what they want who they are. If your idea combines Stimulus with Insight you can have some great ideas. This is what we strive to do.
7. What are the company’s main objectives in 2020?
For FiftyFourDegreesNorth we are launching FLX our key objective is to make that a great product and a gain users.
At Edenic we continue to work with clients and can do this remotely which is for obvious reasons as focus this year. We are also involved in Climate Change through a project called The Waterline, which aims to establish The Humber as a world leader in decarbonization. 2020 is a big year for this project.
8. My final question is what piece of advice you’d give to someone who is thinking of starting their own business?
Work out how you’re going to fund your project. Doing it yourself is the route we have taken, but this takes longer. On the plus side you retain control. Taking investment is easy, especially in Health, are there are so many investors, but you will lose a lot of control.
It’s not easy but if you have an idea burning inside you then you’ll always regret it if you don’t do something. Remember you can always get a real job if it doesn’t work out!
