Marblar turns its hand to crowdsourcing civilian uses for military technology

The company has announced a new partnership with Ploughshare Innovations – part of Britain's Ministry of Defence – to put military innovations to good use for the rest of society.

Regular readers of Springwise may remember our coverage back in October of Marblar, the UK platform for helping scientists find alternative consumer uses for their medical patents and inventions. Now the company has announced a new partnership with Ploughshare Innovations – part of Britain’s Ministry of Defence – to put military innovations to good use for the rest of society. Considering the vast sums of money the British military puts into research and development to create new equipment for its armed forces, it makes sense that some of these may have applications elsewhere – take GPS as an example. Marblar’s first project to launch the collaboration is the Surface Sampler, a device “designed to protect soldiers from biological and chemical warfare by rapidly screening substances on a surface”. Users ranging from industry experts to entrepreneurs have already offered potential applications such as influenza pandemic screening to organic food testing. The project is currently in the Refinement stage, whereby the six highest-voted ideas compete to win a USD 1,000 prize and the chance to turn their idea into reality. The video below offers more information about the pilot project: Through its partnership with Marblar, Ploughshare aims to benefit society by reappropriating the technologies currently used in warfare. Are there other ways to make use of military inventions for peaceful circumstances?