Member Article

North East inventor up for cash prize

A North East inventor is in the running to win £100,000 on Sky TV’s ‘The Big Idea’ this weekend. Julian Peck is hoping that his Cyclaire invention will allow him to bring the prize money back to the region to help him further develop his high-speed bicycle pump.

The Big Idea aims to find the next big British invention. Ruth Badger, star of “The Apprentice” TV show, is one of the show’s three judges and said Cyclaire had the “potential to win the whole show”. After receiving 80% of the votes in the semi final, Julian is set be a strong contender on Saturday. Cyclaire is a pull-cord system, originally developed for bicycle pumps but with lots of other possible uses. The pull-cord makes Cyclaire’s compact pumps quicker and easier to use than larger, conventional pumps.

Julian said: “The Cyclaire bike pump is already available, and is Innovation Of The Year. We’ve just launched the Cyclaire Rapid, which is the fastest bike pump in the world and the Cyclaire Inflator which can fill an air bed in under a minute. Cyclaire pumps are already the best on the market and I now know how to go one better – the Cypod will be the fastest bike pump in the world but only 10 cm long, and I need to win The Big Idea to develop it. The prize money will be used in the North East, where there is a strong culture of innovation.”

The final is at 9pm on Sky One this Saturday, and the viewing public decides the winner. To support Julian, vote online on Saturday evening at www.thebigidea.tv.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .