Feebees: Revolutionizing the Design of Functional Footwear

No matter how high-quality and comfortable shoes you wear, nothing can compare with the unmatched feeling of walking barefoot. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to create footwear that approximates this delightful experience as closely as possible and brings it into everyday life. That’s exactly what Feebees do, unique sock sneakers that allow you to enjoy the barefoot experience in any situation and any setting. Their bold and innovative approach has earned them recognition at the highest level: this year, Feebees won the World Future Awards in the Footwear category. But it’s not just about the most comfortable shoes that will change the way you think about footwear. The brand implements a consistent concept of sustainability and environmental consciousness.

Origin of Feebees

The Feebees story began when Chen Guming decided to make her first pair of shoes for his two-year-old daughter on his own. As a loving father and a professional with years of shoe-making experience, he wanted to create the perfect shoes for his baby girl. Understanding that children’s shoes have many specific characteristics, Chen realized that everything that was available on the market was far from perfect. It took almost two years of research, development, trial and error, and communication with other professionals to develop shoes that met his high quality requirements. In 2014, Chen Guming was able to present his two-year-old daughter with a unique pair of snickers socks. That was the beginning of Feebees.

For kids and beyond

For several years, Feebees specialized in the production of exclusively children’s snickers socks. Parents who care about the comfort and health of their children appreciated the development of Chen Guming and his team. Feebees products proved to be ideal for babies who were taking their first steps; the carefully thought-out materials and design ensured the fit of children’s feet, comfort, and safety of walking.

Over time it was decided to develop models for adults. At the moment, Feebees is a brand that produces original, quality, and functional shoes for people of all ages and lifestyles.


Footwear for any occasion

To describe Feebees as simply as possible, they are socks with thickened soles. But behind this simplicity and minimalistic design are years of development and experimentation in search of perfection. The sock sneakers do not need laces – you can just put them on your feet in a few seconds, and you’re good to go.

The Feebees top uses an exclusively developed weaving method with highly elastic nylon yarn. This method ensures that the material adheres to all parts of the foot, taking into account the anatomy, ensuring comfort and breathability of the skin.

Chen Guming knows firsthand the problems of the spine and understands the role of proper foot placement in back health and overall body condition. That’s why it was extremely important for him to make a sole that would give quality support to every Feebees owner. During the development of the sole structure, Chen himself actively wore Feebees and even participated in Ironman competitions in them. This allowed him to embody a one-piece foam sole with balanced rebound and foot support. The sole adapts to the individual shape of the wearer’s foot, making Feebees the perfect shoe for home and outdoor activities.

Sustainability

Along with the concept of the barefoot experience, an important aspect of Feebees is environmental protection. Chen Guming strives to avoid minimizing the carbon dioxide emissions common to conventional shoe manufacturers. Sustainability has become one of the basic concepts in Feebees’ work, and the company has achieved impressive results in this. The carbon footprint of the brand’s footwear production is only 40% of that of normal shoes.

In addition, customers can return old shoes for a fee. In the patented Feebees recycling machine, used shoes go through five crushing steps before they can be used to make new shoes. Compliant with GRS & RCS Recycling Standards and having UK BSI Carbon Emissions Certification, Feebees are one of the most environmentally friendly shoe brands in the world.

Nuro: Shaping Autonomous Local Delivery Services of the Future

Electric cars with autopilot have not yet become commonplace on public roads, but they no longer cause much trepidation. However, when an unconventional, tiny Nuro R2 vehicle hits the road, it will at least attract your attention. And when you see that there is no driver or passengers in this car, but only goods on their way from stores to customers, you may be surprised even more. As soon it becomes obvious to you that this humble car is meant to redefine the AV delivery industry and make the world a slightly more comfortable and safer place, you are likely to take an interest and respect for it and its creators. That interest is further fueled by the fact that this year, Nuro, the car’s developer, was named winner of the World Future Awards in the category of Self-Driving Vehicle That Delivers Products to Buyers.

Nuro R1. First generation

Nuro is an autonomous delivery company founded in 2016 by former Google employees Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, who worked on the Google self-driving car project, now known as Waymo. In 2018, the firm unveiled its prototype robotic delivery vehicle R1. This electric robotic delivery vehicle was designed solely for delivery services, with no driver or passenger seating.

The R1 was equipped with a full set of radar, sonar, and lidar to move fully on the roadway, obeying all traffic rules and not endangering other road users and pedestrians. The R1 had extremely compact dimensions, with its height below the average human height and width of less than a meter. The refusal to carry passengers made the car much cheaper to produce and eliminated a number of complexities in design and operation.

Nuro R2

In 2020, the Nuro team unveiled a new, improved autonomous delivery vehicle, the R2. This generation features a stronger body, a 360-degree vision system that represents the road without any blind spots, a new sensor system, increased interior space without increasing the vehicle’s dimensions, and increased battery capacity to run all day.

Nuro has received permits from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to test the R2 on public roads as a self-driving car without mirrors or pedals. In doing so, the R2 travels at speeds of no more than 25 miles per hour.

Philosophy

R2 is an effective tool with which the Nuro team fulfills its mission of improving everyday life through robotics. Autonomous vehicle delivery offers a new approach to local commerce, providing faster, more convenient, more economical, and safer delivery of goods from stores directly to customers. It allows users to use conventional cars less, unload roads, and free up their own time to devote to the people and activities they love.

How it works

Nuro has teamed up with popular brands to deliver sought-after products fully autonomously and safely. Its list of partners includes Walmart, FedEx, Chipotle, Domino’s, Kroger, and CVS Pharmacy. Customizable compartments and a large payload allow the R2 to carry a wide range of loads, from pizzas to large grocery bags.

To use R2’s services, users must place a delivery order with one of the listed partners and select «Self-Driving Vehicle.» Once Nuro’s self-driving bot picks up the order and sets off, the user will receive a link to track the vehicle. When the R2 arrives at the address, Nuro will send the user a message with an access code that must be entered in order to receive the order. To avoid confusion and to ensure the safety of goods, different orders are neatly separated from each other inside the vehicle.

Nuro currently provides fully autonomous delivery to customers in Houston, Silicon Valley, and Greater Phoenix.

Interview with Soumyadip Rakshit, CEO and Co-Founder of MysteryVibe

Smart technology is penetrating deeper and deeper into our daily lives. The bedroom, the place where love and passion take shape, is no exception. Innovative devices from sex-tech company MysteryVibe help bring the quality of intimate life to a new level, offering a balance of advanced engineering solutions and medical research. The recent winning at the World Future Awards was the perfect opportunity to talk to Soumyadip Rakshit, CEO and Co-Founder of MysteryVibe, about how his company’s products help improve the pleasure experience and sexual performance.

World Future Awards: Please tell us a little about yourself and your professional background.

Soumyadip Rakshit: I started my career at Philips while studying Electronics Engineering. Following that, I did my Ph.D. at the University of Bath, specializing in Biometrics. My research was published in Nature and led to the start-up, Smart Sensors, which quickly became a leader in Iris Recognition and was acquired by Fotonation, a computational imaging company. I then spent 7 years in Management Consulting, building cutting-edge technology in national security and financial crime. My clients included Home Office, eBorders, Transport Security, Santander and HSBC.
From my experiences, I learned that a major challenge in people’s lives is keeping the ‘mystery’ alive in the bedroom. This is especially the case after major life events like childbirth, menopause, cancer treatment or surgery. So, in 2014, I co-founded MysteryVibe to bring deep product and operational experiences together and create medical devices which address big topics in sexual health like pain and erectile dysfunction.
Over the past 8 years, our team has worked closely with healthcare professionals and consumers to be at the forefront of the sexual health and wellness market. We’ve been bridging the gap between engineering, medical and pleasure to build MysteryVibe into a world leader in this space.

WFA: How did the idea for MysteryVibe come about?

SR: Sexual health is an important part of overall health, yet sexual problems are hardly discussed due to shame and stigma, even though they contribute significantly to decreased quality of life and relationships. MysteryVibe came about to normalize important sexual health conversations and elevate sexual health by making accessible and affordable alternatives to prescription medications. Our products are medically researched and doctor-endorsed to increase pleasure with body-adaptable designs and mitigate sexual issues like erectile dysfunction, arousal disorder, and pelvic pain. By making health sexy, we aim to keep the mystery alive in the bedroom and improve relationships.

WFA: How can you briefly describe the concept of MysteryVibe?

SR: MysteryVibe is a sexual technology and health company combining cutting-edge design & technology to create award-winning smart vibrators for men, women & couples that improves their health and well-being.

WFA: Can you tell us about the uniqueness of MysteryVibe offerings by the example of one of your products?


SR: We create revolutionary body-adaptable vibrators that are registered medical devices. Crescendo 2 is the world’s first and only bendable, Bluetooth gender-agnostic vibrator. Designed to mimic human fingers, it bends into myriad shapes to adapt to your unique body shape and size. With superior bendability, six motors, and sixteen intensity levels, Crescendo 2 precisely targets erogenous zones with powerful vibrations like never before. Tenuto 2 is the world’s first and only smart wearable male vibrator that is an alternative to prescription medication for erectile dysfunction. Tenuto 2 works to promote erectile function as well as elevate sensations for the wearer and partner, should one be applicable.


WFA: MysteryVibe sex toys are an interesting symbiosis of high technology, medical research, and impeccable design. How does your team manage to achieve such a holistic result?


SR: It’s a balancing act of innovating a functional and aesthetically beautiful medical device that people can easily understand and apply within their lives. We start with deep medical research, informed by doctors, urologists, menopause specialists, and pelvic therapists. Then we collect feedback from people with these specific pain points, which informs our designs and product functionality. We go through several iterations before we land on a prototype that works, and even then, we continue testing and improving along every step of production.

WFA: Your brand has shown the direction in which the sexual health and pleasure industry can develop. In your opinion, what other changes await it in the near future?
SR: Personalization is the future of sexual health and pleasure products. Every body is different and responds to different stimuli, so the importance of customization and body-adaptable designs will only increase as more people embrace gender fluidity and reject traditional exclusive vibrator designs that are incompatible with their anatomies.


WFA: MysteryVibe sex devices, with the consent of their owners, can collect data that is used for new developments and to improve product performance. Are there any interesting findings from the collected data that you could share?
SR: MysteryVibe devices do not collect any user data. Instead, we rely on one-to-one interactions with our users and experts to collect feedback on how we can improve our devices and what we should be focusing on developing next. The key findings from these interactions are ways to improve efficacy, usability, and understanding which sexual health issues can be addressed through vibration therapy.


WFA: How do you assess the current state of the sex tech sector? Are there aspects of it that you would like to change?
SR: While sex tech and sexual health are becoming more mainstream and accepted, securing funding is still an issue due to antiquated views about sex and sexual health. Sex tech companies are facing continued challenges in marketing due to policy restrictions in all major media companies. To create a sexually healthy and equitable world, we need to continue educating and overcoming these barriers with creative resourcefulness.


WFA: Does MysteryVibe have any initiatives beyond the development and production of innovative sex toys?
SR: The key to bringing about change in sexual health is through conversations, and this is especially true for couples where starting a conversation in the bedroom can be challenging. To support this, we work extensively on researching and writing actionable content in all things sex from pelvic pain to prostate cancer, audio porn to threesomes.


WFA: What can the industry and users expect from your brand in the near future?
SR: We just launched two new products, Tenuto Mini – the first compact male wearable vibrator, and Legato – the first labia vibrator, and we will launch another product in the coming weeks.


WFA: What are your emotions about MysteryVibe winning the World Future Awards?
SR: It’s incredibly validating to receive recognition for the hard work the team has contributed to advancing sexual health and pleasure. Awards like the World Future Awards inspire and invigorate us to continue pushing through obstacles and helping those who need it most.

World Future Awards Honor Tide for Transforming the Business Banking Market

A successful business that is profitable and enjoyable is about ideas and spending time and money efficiently. Small and medium-sized enterprises often have to spend resources on opening and maintaining bank accounts and related banking services, delaying the development and implementation of new business ideas. In an effort to help SMEs easily start and grow their businesses, Tide offers an innovative solution for fast business registration and current account opening. The effectiveness of this solution has already been proven in thousands of cases around the world. This year, the World Future Awards research team recognized the company’s contribution to the development of the business banking market and named it the winner in the category of Best Mobile Banking Solutions.

World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter or even a bit more fun.


By offering small and medium-sized businesses advanced tools for opening and maintaining bank accounts, as well as convenient administrative matters, Tide gives a new impetus to the banking sector for SMEs, freeing more space for entrepreneurs to do what they love.


Tide is a mobile-first business finance platform that provides small and medium enterprises and sole traders with convenient tools to simplify business administration. The platform was launched in 2017, and currently more than 400,000 members across the United Kingdom and India benefit from it. With a keen understanding of SME needs and a constant focus on meeting them, the company is a leader in SME banking in the UK.

Every Tide client gets access to a number of options that allow them to take their business management to the next level. Along with an FSCS-protected bank account, they have a Mastercard that they can use both at home and abroad. Users can conveniently manage invoices, make direct debit payments, and take advantage of real-time business forecasts. The platform integrates with the most common accounting programs, including QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and others. To attract businesses with accounts at other institutions, Tide allows them to connect their existing accounts through open banking. This way, even businesses that haven’t opened an account with Tide can benefit from the offer.

Zeamo Wins the World Future Awards for Innovation in the Corporate Health & Wellness Sector

Having gone through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity has come to realize with renewed vigor the importance of taking care of health. At the same time, many companies have switched to a hybrid mode of operation, with some or all of their staff working remotely. In this environment, the traditional approach to going to the gym and exercising needed to be reconsidered. Corporations that were interested in providing fitness opportunities for employees were looking for new approaches. And the Zeamo team came up with an innovative digital solution that bridged the relationship between fitness partners and consumers in a changed industry environment. Zeamo’s accomplishments were praised by the World Future Awards research team, and the company was named a winner in the category of Best Health & Wellness Platform.

World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter or even a bit more fun.


In today’s changing world, support for active lifestyles and corporate employee health needs to break away from the usual patterns and adapt to hybrid employees. Zeamo offers a modern and flexible solution that opens up new benefits for corporations and their employees.

Zeamo is a corporate fitness platform that provides employees and health plan members with mobile and seamless wellness and fitness services. Zeamo’s ecosystem combines digital fitness services, personalized wellness activities, activity tracking, and various rewards for success. Today, more than 40,000,000 employees have access to the platform, which inspires and motivates them to build their own fitness journey.


An active lifestyle with Zeamo becomes profitable and exciting. Thanks to corporate prices and an extensive library of workouts, employees can take advantage of classes with the best trainers in the best gyms and studios on the most favorable conditions. The ability to train anytime, anywhere opens up new prospects for self-development along with a high level of engagement and connection to the organization and colleagues. And challenges and rewards add an exciting aspect of motivation to set and achieve new goals.

World Future Awards Recognizes Sleep Reset as an Effective Sleep Improvement Tool

There are different causes of sleep disorders, but their consequences invariably lead to devastating effects on health, mental and emotional well-being, decreased productivity and other undesirable symptoms. For many years, this problem was solved mostly with pills, which had only a temporary impact and could also cause side effects. The developers of the Simple Habit meditation app offer an innovative solution to the problem of insomnia – a digital personalized sleep clinic Sleep Reset. This program, which has been shown to be highly effective compared to traditional methods, was recognized as the winner of this year’s World Future Awards in the category of Best Health Care & Lifestyle Application.

World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter or even a bit more fun.

Quality and healthy sleep is an aspect of everyone’s life that is relevant today and will not lose relevance in the future. Therefore, the developments of the Sleep Reset team are important for the society of the future and deserve recognition today.

Sleep Reset is an Android and iOS mobile app launched in 2020 designed to improve sleep and reduce sleep anxiety. The program is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy developed in collaboration with leading sleep specialists. Until now, the most effective way to deal with sleep disorders has been to go to specialized in-person sleep clinics. However, not everyone has access to such clinics, and often people are saved by using sleeping pills, which have a number of side effects.

Sleep Reset offers a solution that suggests a long-term effect without pills. After installing the app on the phone, the user must undergo an individual assessment that evaluates the causes of sleep problems. The user is then provided with a personal coach who creates an individualized 12-week program, providing comprehensive support and recommendations to improve sleep quality. The user must carefully record his or her performance in the program to monitor progress and adjust the program as needed. On average, Sleep Reset users start sleeping 88 minutes longer, fall asleep twice as fast, and are three times less likely to wake up in the middle of the night.

Second Nature Receives Award as Best Food & Nutrition Application

The problem of overweight and malnutrition has spawned many theories, conflicting opinions, psychological and physical problems in recent decades. Many people suffer, look for solutions, overcome multiple obstacles, and find a way out, but after a while have to face the problem again. One of the biggest mistakes on this difficult path is trying to find a solution in the nature of the diet and changing the diet. But the creators of Second Nature offer a new, holistic approach based on science and innovation. Using cutting-edge technology, they help not just to change diet, but to create a new way of thinking and a healthy approach to eating. Second Nature’s achievement received high praise from the World Future Awards research team, and the company was named a winner in the category of Best Food & Nutrition Application.

World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter or even a bit more fun.

The problems associated with being overweight are deep-rooted and have already dramatically affected the lives of large numbers of people and communities. Second Nature offers a new perspective on this phenomenon and an effective multi-faceted approach to remedying the situation. Initiatives such as these open new horizons toward good and healthy eating habits and a positive way of life and thinking.

Second Nature is an app that gives the user access to a highly trained nutritionist, tracking technology, a variety of educational content, and a wealth of simple and healthy recipes. The program is based on behavioral science, and it aims to retrain the human mind to make healthy food and lifestyle choices. The healthy habits that Second Nature users form make weight loss easier and longer lasting.

Empathetic mentors and nutritionists help users get rid of feelings of guilt; their empathetic and welcoming approach, coupled with a well-rounded program, naturally steers people’s thinking toward healthier eating and thinking. By avoiding explicit rules and guidelines, they form habits that help people enjoy healthy food rather than forcing people to eat what they don’t like.

Innovative Health Care Technology by Cera Gains Recognition from World Future Awards

Nothing can replace a warm humane treatement and care in medicine and health care. But the proper involvement of advanced technology helps to complement the efforts of specialists and achieve better results in providing quality and prolonged life to people. Innovative company Cera combines the expertise of highly skilled medical professionals with the power of machine learning systems to redefine health care and become a global leader in digital home health services. The Cera team’s dedication to reinventing healthcare was praised by the World Future Awards research team as a winner in the category of Best Health Care Services.

World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter or even a bit more fun.

The health of people and society is one of the keys to successful development and growth. It is for this reason that Cera’s work in introducing new therapies and attracting cutting-edge technology for more efficient healthcare services is an important step toward a healthier and better future.

The Cera team has created a unique home health care delivery scheme, attracting more and more professional caregivers, nurses, and other health care professionals. They provide quality medical care primarily to patients who need help at home or in nursing homes in the UK and Germany. And all administrative processes are not conducted on paper, as with most health care providers, but in electronic digital form. All patient data and conditions are recorded in the system.

Cera’s artificial intelligence algorithms then process, summarize, and analyze the information obtained and use that data to predict the deterioration of the patient’s condition. This approach allows for medical intervention before the patient gets worse. The technology has helped reduce hospitalization rates by 52% compared to traditional methods and has predicted up to 80% of hospitalizations in 7 days.

Today, Cera has 10,000 employees who make more than 40,000 in-person healthcare visits every day. More and more companies are using Cera’s technology, and today it has exceeded 2,000, providing people with a healthier and better quality of life in their homes.

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