According to Bence Lukács, experience design lead at Supercharge, the main goal of the device that uses UV light to measure the effectiveness of handwashing is to battle hospital-acquired infections, the cause of almost 150,000 deaths annually in Europe.

That was before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which has made correct sanitization procedures more important than ever.

Supercharge says poor manual hygiene among hospital employees is responsible for a shocking estimated 1.2 million infections per day worldwide. The HandInScan scanner measures and improves hand disinfection practices among hospital staff.

Hygiene habits

Supercharge has also come up with a solution for motivating hospital staff to use the scanner as a training device to build proper hand hygiene habits.

The scanner is fitted with a comprehensive training framework, helping hospitals fight avoidable infections and save lives.

The concept has been recognized many times since the first prototype was presented in 2011. According to Supercharge, the cancelation of the awards gala was an upsetting if understandable situation that was handled very professionally; the team has already received the award, it says.

Asked about future competitions, Supercharge emphasizes its intention to participate further, but probably with another creation, as the iF Design Gold rating is one of the biggest recognitions a design company can receive for a product.

Photo courtesy of Supercharge