Covid 19 has shed light on the incredible inequities when it comes to access to nutritious foods.   Food insecurity is a big factor when it comes to nutritional deficiencies that leave our bodies vulnerable to viruses and chronic illness – whether it’s covid, diabetes, heart disease, or peripheral artery disease. You can’t stay healthy without nutrition and you can’t heal without nutrition. Therefore, it’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken. But Dole Asia Holdings and its subsidiaries are calling on all innovators to work together to break the cycle with its increased focus on tackling food insecurities. They’ve launched the Sunshine For All Fund, which is a 2 million dollar annual fund that will support global strategic partnerships and innovation in the crucial areas of sustainability, food access, and waste. Dr. Lara Ramdin, Chief Innovation Officer of Dole Packaged Foods. discusses the business' transformation, which is deeply rooted in its purpose, and how to partner with their effort with Emmy Award-winning host Kym McNicholas 

Kym McNicholas On Innovation

Calling All Innovators: Dole's New Sunshine Fund Aims to Bear New Fruit

 A 45-year-old woman recently shared her story with me after finding our patient advocacy nonprofit The Way To My Heart and wishing she had found it sooner because we may have helped her save not just one leg but both. Two months after being diagnosed with Peripheral Artery Disease, a narrowing of mainly the leg arteries due to plaque build-up, her hospital vascular specialist told her that the vessels below her knee were severely compromised and too small to treat. He told her to walk until she couldn’t walk anymore and then he would amputate. One night about six months later, she woke up at 2am because the pain was unbearable and she decided it was her leg or life. So, she and her husband drove to the emergency room where physicians pumped her full of powerful pain medications until her surgeon arrived and took her to the operating room to amputate her leg at the knee. She had never thought to get a second opinion as her vascular specialist was the head of the department at a large University Hospital. She thought he was the best and didn’t think to question his skillset until he gave her the same option for her left leg one year later. That’s when she found The Way To My Heart and we directed her to a “Pedal Loop Specialist” trained in navigating the small blood vessels below-the-knee to restore flow.   This woman’s story is not unique. Nearly 200,000 needless amputations are performed annually due to advanced stages of PAD, known as Critical Limb Threatening Ischemia. Navigating smaller, compromised vessels below-the-knee is risky and requires highly skilled interventionalists, special tools, and additional time, which are few and far between. New technology has the potential to change that. LimFlow has formalized a technique used by advanced interventionalists to re-route blood flow around a blockage in an artery below-the-knee using a vein. Arteries naturally deliver blood flow to the foot and veins are responsible for outflow. LimFlow’s system includes a specially designed crossing device to easily make the artery to vein connection. Forward flow is enabled in the vein through a disabling of the venous valves using a valvulotome. An extension stent is placed to block smaller veins from taking blood flow in the newly converted vein back to the heart, and a tapered crossing stent is used to bridge the artery to vein connection. LimFlow’s CEO Dan Rose shares the backstory behind the system, which has already received CE Mark for use in Europe, and is well on it’s path to U.S. FDA clearance in the Q&A below.  

New Option for No-Option Vascular Patients

Treatment for vascular blockages is getting a much needed innovation makeover. Alucent is first tackling one of the most debilitating diseases – peripheral artery disease, plaque build-up in mainly the legs that narrows blood flow causing excruciating pain. They’re focus is making the well-known ‘stent,' currently used to maintain diseased arteries and veins open, obsolete. The stent is a foreign object that when placed in the body can trigger an inflammatory response leading to more build-up in the artery that blocks flow – so a patient is back to square one. So, while a stent can be life & limb saving at first, it may not have a lasting impact. Alucent has designed a more natural option to keep the vessel open. It's one that’s activated by a deep blue light that creates a scaffolding inside the vessel to keep it open. In this interview, CEO Dr. Myles Greenberg explains how they're going to use an additional raise of $35 million dollars to support clinical trials, one of which has recently begun. 

New Technology Designed To Make 'Stents' Obsolete

Kym McNicholas on Innovation - Tania Katan Interview

Extreme Tech Challenge Top Ten - January 5, 2018 by Kym McNicholas On Innovation

Extreme Tech Challenge Top Ten - January 5, 2018

The Most Innovative Practical Gifts For Car Owners - December 15th, 2017 by Kym McNicholas On Innovation

The Most Innovative Practical Gifts For Car Owners - December 15th, 2017

The Most Innovative Beverages of the Holiday Season - December 8th, 2017 by Kym McNicholas On Innovation Summary: Claude Blankiet was a pioneer in stone washing denim and is now applying the same innovative thinking to wine making. While visiting New York from France, he noticed very traditional styles and a lack of ingenuity in fashion. He moved there in the 1970’s to continue his work in the jean business, eventually creating a technique of washing denim in pumice stones to create worn, lighter wash jeans. Years later, he operates his Napa winery using the same inventive mentality. Upon entering the wine business, Blankiet began work with experienced, yet stubborn winemakers. Professionals were limited by their own knowledge making the wine high quality, but not progressive, just as the fashion industry had been. Blankiet shifted his business away from such mentors and now relied solely on his own taste, which has led to his success.         Key Takeaways:   Blankiet describes his way of thinking as interpretive management. This is what allows him to transition between businesses, while applying the same skills. He is not so much a creator, as an interpreter of outside ideas and talented in finding an appropriate application for them. He experiments with non-traditional methods of production in all of his businesses in order to problem solve and maximize productivity. One example of innovation in Blankiet’s vineyards is used to combat the intense Napa sun. Blankiet uses fabric covers to protect the fruit from direct light and was inspired by the Palm Desert to replicate a fine mist that cools the grapes without wetting them and affecting the wine production.   Key Quotes: “The necessary thing to be successful in fine wine is to find a site and to be respectful of the site and to let the site produce the natural flavors that it is capable of making… The key for me was when I could make decisions about winemaking and let go of the hired talent and just do what I felt needed to be done.” - Claude Blankiet “I am not a true innovator… most of what I do is using other people’s ideas, or equipment, or technique, or chemical, and finding a proper application to help me out.”- Claude Blankiet “As a true innovator you are a lifelong learner and always learning lessons and adapting to the lessons that you learned.” Kym McNicholas “Because of your adaptability and your ability to go and look at other industries, see what they are doing there, and bring those (solutions) in, you might be able to withstand.” - Kym McNicholas “If your mindset is to try new things, you will find the correct solution to your problem.” - Claude Blankiet                                                                                  

The Most Innovative Beverages of the Holiday Season - December 8th, 2017

Top B2B Startups To Watch In 2018 - December 1st, 2017 by Kym McNicholas on Innovation

Top B2B Startups To Watch In 2018 - December 1st, 2017

All of us have the power to create change. The advances in technology are now such that if you have an idea, it’s easier than ever to execute on it. “Kym McNicholas On Innovation” shares the journeys of successful entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors from around the world who will inspire you to create your own financial independence. The show also features some of the most advanced technologies you’ve never heard of that could be have an impact on your life, your business, and your career. Regular featured segments include “The Edge” which highlights businesses that are game-changing in the enterprise. Plus, each week in “HealthTech”, you’ll hear about a company that’s creating better, safer, faster, and cheaper technologies that will improve patient care and lower costs. And in our “Female Seeking Startup” series hear the success stories of some of the most powerful women who are creating game-changing technologies. Produced and Published by The Innovators Network (http://TheInnovators.Network)

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Kym McNicholas On Innovation

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