It´s a great example of personal improvement, as it survived the Spanair plane crash, a tragedy from which it pulled forces to move forward and set up his own company: INDESmed, recognized for manufacturing and commercializing the world´s lightest crutches.

- How was your experience at the UAH?

The truth is that STEM careers do not live as well as other specialties and it´s up to us to study quite a bit because it´s a particularly hard race, but I have very good memories.

- When did you create your own business?

It was in 2011. After I finished my career I was working in medical companies and when I suffered the Spanair crash in 2008, I had to get back from quite a few operations because I had major leg fractures and I was wearing crutches for a long time. I had always wanted to build my own company, and as a result of using crutches and other orthopedic devices, I thought I could improve them so that these medical devices to help people. From there, the result of desire, the idea and the experience, INDESmed emerged.

- Have you worked for other companies before?

My first job, as long as I finished my degree, was in a company engaged in neurology, then I tried a walk on my own, but the experience didn't work well. I've learned from mistakes made in the past, so now my company works well.

So, after a couple of failures and the accident, I decided to start over with a new society. Engineers, as well as any profession, must continue to try and not see business failure as a defeat but as a knowledge opportunity for the future. In fact, it's the third time I've embarked on a business issue.

- By using crutches yourself, I imagine you saw the deficiencies that they had...

I've always been quite creative and using them I realized that they didn't solve the problems that a person who has to carry crutches has. That's where the whole journey started, and although I'm an electronics engineer, I came up with this idea. I thought what could be improved and that´s why our crutches are patented like the light crutches of the world.

In fact, we are highly recognized internationally and have received an award at the Naidex fair, the largest European event of products for the autonomy of people with disabilities for the design, operability and effectiveness of our products, as we offer very good quality at an affordable price.

- Tell us a little about your flagship product, what are the characteristics of the crutches they manufacture?

I had the idea to create these crutches with a new material, the latest in this sector and that no one was doing it.

We were the first company in the world to manufacture crutches in carbon fiber, which makes them very light, so much as they only weigh like a mobile phone but they are able to withstand up to 200 kilos and for one person who carries them every day, this is very important, a conventional crutch weighs between 1 and 1.5 kg.

Therefore, although they have been on the market for some time now, they remain a single product. In adittion, we take great care of esthetics, something that influences the patient psychologically in their recovery because they are created as a sport product and not rehabilitation, so that it does not make you feel all the time that you are wrong, is like they were ski poles.

This invention has helped us to open a way and develop an entire line of products that are oriented to aids of all kinds:walkers, canes, we have made a patent with glasses for presbicia and we have products in place that involve electronics, which is my specialty.

Rafael Vidal, AlumniUAH and INDESmed founder

The company is growing, we have two types of sales, one that is to the final consumer through the online store and another through distributors to reach all the countries of the world, in fact the most important are in South Korea and Australia.

- What do people who use your products tell you?

People tell us we have changed life and that fills us with pride because we design the concept, manufacture the product and bring it to reality, but in the end it´s a kind of product that help people make their lives lighter, for example, to those who have been using crutches for 20 years. There are also many athletes who use them.

- What would you say to students who are studying now and who want to start a company?

I've always wanted to get in touch with students not only in engineering but also in physiotherapy, a discipline that has helped me so much. I would tell them that it is not an easy path, but I would encourage anyone who wants to try and that, if at any time he has a failure, he learns from it and takes it as a positive experience for the future.

Publicado en: Inglés