A Pinner entrepreneur has won a national award for her pioneering app design.
Tanya Beri has won Innovate UK’s Young Innovators award for developing CAIR London, a phone app that helps Londoners map out their tube routes with the cleanest air.
During her research, Tanya found that whilst many people view public transport as “better for the environment”, the upsetting reality is that this is not always the case.
She said: “Sadly, the vast majority of tube passengers are breathing in air pollution that far exceeds the safe limit.”
The UK’s safe limit for healthy air is fewer than 25 small particles in a cubic metre of air. However, in some places on the underground, it can top 200 per cubic metre. Studies have shown that these particles in the air can get deep into people’s lungs when breathed in and can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
Tanya’s CAIR London app will allow residents to see which tube routes have the best and worse rates when planning how they travel through the city.
She said: “The London Underground is the heartbeat of London, allowing millions of people every day to travel at ease and speed. However, we should also be aware of how polluted it is, and so I created CAIR London to help people have a choice in how they travel by choosing the cleanest route.
“I think it’s important that air quality in the city is improved and that we each take steps to educate ourselves about the quality of the air we breathe. With CAIR London, people will be able to quickly and easily map out their tube routes and know they are minimising how much pollution they encounter.”
Innovate UK has awarded Tanya a £5,000 grant, one-on-one business coaching and an allowance to cover living costs to help progress her business idea.
She said: “As you can imagine, it’s a very costly process, so the grant money has been a great help in taking the app from a prototype into development.”
0 Comments