Spacerpad - a reusable sanitary pad

Purpose and goal

The overall purpose of the project was to develop and supply the market / end-user with a reusable and hygienic sanitary pad and thereby contribute to health, gender equality and sustainable consumption. Today we have a prototype, that according to lab and user tests has proved to work very well. Through collaboration with material suppliers, manufacturers, distribution channels and user representatives, we currently have an international and multi-professional consortium for continued development of the project.

Expected results and effects

A market analysis shows that there is a great need for our product. Governments in low-income countries, UN agencies and aid organizations (NGOs) spend large amounts of money annually on sanitary protections. There is a desire to invest this money in a more sustainable product. A competitive analysis shows that alternative products exist, but that they do not correspond to the same high requirements as Spacerpad. Today we have established contacts with representatives of the entire value chain and draft agreements to an application for step 2.

Planned approach and implementation

Implementation of step 1 has been completed as expected. We have achieved the goals thanks to a good composition of parties, and the relatively mature of the project. The collaboration with foreign contacts requires time at place as communication is made more difficult by the fact that it tends to be sporadic and that cultural differences can complicate consensus. This is important to keep in mind in future implementation.