Our journey started when we designed a reusable biopolymer packaging for wine as part of our Masters at RMIT, and the Biodesign Challenge 2020. It was here that we learned the importance of labels.

Our project went outside of the classroom when it became a finalist of the Open Innovation Competition 2020 of the City of Melbourne. We won a spot at RMIT Activator’s LaunchHUB pre-accelerator program.

T’wine was also a finalist of the Taiwan International Student Design Competition for Product Design

We also won the pitch night of Hult Prize @ RMIT, a global challenge for young people to solve the world’s most pressing issues.

While in Melbourne’s long lockdown, we also joined the Biodesign Sprint x Google, and designed a truly circular lifecycle for electronics, which involved biopolymer made from bacteria and copper nanoparticles.

We joined Study Melbourne/Startspace’s Future Founders Program, and through mentorship, funding, and the support of our peers, we were to prototype and validate, which was so valuable for an early-stage idea that embraces new materials.

Material tests revealed that while the biopolymer is indeed suitable for food and beverage, red wine stained it as well as other plastics, even those used for wine. While not an issue for single-use, this was an issue for a reusable bottle.

Combining knowledge gained from T’wine, Circular Circuitry and his experience at RMIT’s aerospace rocketry team, Joseph made a proof-of-concept of circular electronics, whose main potential was in tracking/labelling reusable packaging.

ZeroTag won the Technology Award from the RMIT School of Design’s Master of Design Innovation and Technology program. It was time to bring it out of academe and simplify it down to an MVP that people can readily use.

ZeroTag was exhibited at the Stephen McLaughlan Gallery in Melbourne, where the public could imagine a smarter shopping experience with smart reusable containers.This feedback helped refine ZeroTag as a startup.

We presented ZeroTag to the Circular Economy community to gain feedback from retailers and other members of the ecosystem.

Through a workshop at Beta by STH BNK, we were able to run people passionate about sustainability through our journey and give feedback on the vision of ZeroTag, which helped shape our MVP and overall strategy.