Inspiring Innovations in 2013 - Hippo Drum (water transportation system) and spectacles with adjustable lens.

• THE FOOD FIGHTER
  

Shocked by numerous reports of food scandals in China, historical geography student Wu Heng, 28, started a one-man battle to keep his country's food safe. He launched China's first food-safety monitoring website, which allows users to upload reports of food-safety breaches.

By exposing safety violations and mapping out how the various provinces fare on food safety, the site pressured food manufacturers and government officials into taking action on complaints and reports of dangerous and unhealthy practices.

• THE HIPPO ROLLER
• 
  

This simple invention has saved many an aching back: Rollable water barrels that allow villagers in Africa to fetch water easily.

While villagers have traditionally carried water on their backs or heads, the Hippo Roller - a durable plastic water drum that can be quickly turned into a wheelbarrow-like wheel - allows them to carry more water home without stressing their backs and necks.

Tens of thousands of the why-didn't-I-think-of-it-before invention have been distributed to more than 20 African countries, making the arduous task of fetching water easier and less painful for more than 300,000 people.

• AFFORDABLE VISION
  

With the turn of a little wheel, these inexpensive adjustable spectacles can be instantly customised, bringing clear vision to poor villagers anywhere.

The idea came from a Dutchman who realised that none of his short-sighted classmates at a university in Tanzania wore glasses, because corrective eyewear was expensive and hard to obtain.

That prompted five years of research and design, which resulted in Focusspecs, which are made up of two sliding lenses that can be adjusted to correct a range of myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism.

Focus on Vision, a non-profit foundation set up by the inventor, now aims to produce 10 million of its Focusspecs glasses by 2020.

• TRAVELLERS WITH A CAUSE
  

Unlike most holidaymakers, the Colas family from Paris decided to mix adventure with a worthy cause when they took off on a world tour in 2010.

Raising funds and tapping contacts through their own website, We Like The World, they raised more than $70,000 to build a school in Burkina Faso.

They are among a growing tribe of "backpack philanthropists" who have helped to make the world a better place - while on holiday.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/top-the-news/story/flashback-they-made-impact-last-year-20140412#sthash.TZKjSdot.dpuf

Creativity is about liberating ideas - Sir John Hegarty

Liberating ideas

Advertising powerhouse Sir John Hegarty says the key to creativity is to be aware of your surroundings

By Lisabel Ting

You could walk past Sir John Hegarty on the street and never know that you had brushed shoulders with one of the greats of the advertising industry today.

With a mopful of tousled grey hair, a crumpled casual jacket and mismatched striped Paul Smith socks peeping over the tops of grey lace-ups, Hegarty embodies one of the key concepts he writes about in his first book, Hegarty On Advertising: Irreverence.

"Irreverence encourages you to be challenging and it doesn't accept the status quo. It injects into your ideas a sort of vibrancy that makes people want to find out, why are you saying that, why are you challenging? And because we live in a competitive world, that's exactly what you have to do," says Hegarty, 69.

It was that attitude which turned Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), founded by Hegarty, John Bartle and Sir Nigel Bogle in 1982, into one of the powerhouses of the advertising world today. Their first major campaign over three decades ago was for Levi's black denim. It featured a sea of white sheep, with a single black sheep facing the other way. The slogan for it was "when the world zigs, zag". It was so successful that BBH adopted the black sheep as its logo, and the campaign's slogan as its motto.

Hegarty was in town earlier this week to promote his second book, Hegarty On Creativity - There Are No Rules. The 128-page book is a collection of aphorisms and observations on creativity, distilled from Hegarty's years of experience in the industry, accompanied by a few of his light- hearted doodles.

Speaking to SundayLife! from BBH's Singapore office in Clarke Quay, Hegarty says: "I felt that somebody needed to write something on creativity. Everybody talks about it... but nobody talks about what is needed or how to be creative, what you should do and what you should expect."

Having been a stalwart of the advertising industry for more than three decades, Hegarty, who is divorced, has seen it through its ups and downs. "This is probably the most exciting time to be in advertising because of what's happening with digital technology. It's coming at us like a tsunami, and understanding how to use it is actually quite difficult.

"People often say that digital technology has revolutionised the communications industry, but I keep telling them, 'No, I don't think it's revolutionised it, it's liberated it'.

"What it's allowed us to do is have an idea, and take that idea in an interesting way to a community of people out there, which we couldn't do before."

Hegarty, who was knighted last year, says that it will take time for creative minds to wrap their heads around the potential of the digital age. "When you look at the development of any piece of significant technology, there's always what I call the creative deficit - nobody knows quite what to do with it. When the Lumiere brothers invented the moving camera, they didn't realise they had invented Hollywood. It takes creative people to go, 'I think we can do this with that.'"

In order to be one of those creative pioneers, Hegarty says that the key is to constantly be aware of your surroundings. He is notorious for his disdain of headphones: "One of the things I always say to creative people is, 'Please take off your headphones.' If you wear them, you create a little bubble to walk around in. Great creative people absorb all the time, and that comes back out in your work without you realising it."

While Hegarty thinks that the advertising industry is now in the "creative deficit" phase of its approach to the digital age, he is optimistic about its future. "I think it has a phenomenal future. A creative industry constantly evolves, constantly questions and constantly challenges," he says.

"But increasingly, as there's more and more stuff out there, the need for the disciplined thinking of advertising is ever more essential."

lting@sph.com.sg

Hegarty On Creativity - There Are No Rules (2013, Thames & Hudon, $15.90), will be available at major bookstores from Jan 27.