Microchip cat flap company SureFlap has been included as a ‘Design Icon’ in a Design Icons exhibition, which will run at the Anglia Ruskin University in February. The interactive exhibition will showcase 20 of the most important products designed in Cambridgeshire over the last 40 year, and will feed into a national series of design events taking place across the country over the next six months.
SureFlap was invented by cat lover and Cambridge physicist Dr Nick Hill following his frustration with a neighbour’s cat. His innovative RFID technology has been used to create a cat flap that can identify a pet by its unique microchip, which acts as a personal ‘key’ for the home.
The cat flap is already exported across Europe and into the USA, and has recently made inroads into New Zealand, where SureFlap has established a new company.
Following the New Zealand earthquake, many pets were separated from their owners, but over 80% of the micro-chipped animals were quickly reunited. Since then, national animal charity SPCA has been promoting microchipping.
SureFlap’s marketing manager Judith Bank said: “We monitor visitors to our UK website and saw that more and more orders were coming from New Zealand. This is hardly surprising, as the Kiwi’s love their cats, with many homes having two or more pets. However, the large cat population also means unwanted visitors are a common problem. New Zealanders were clearly turning to SureFlap as an answer, so we made setting up a company there a priority.”
