Despite all the advances in technology, the problem of lighting up rural Africa after darkness falls is still very real. It was this thought that inspired South Africa-based Michael Suttner to start developing the Lightie, a solar-powered LED module that can screw into any bottle neck measuring 22mm across -- the worldwide standard.

The patented Lightie prototype was released in South Africa last October, where Suttner entered it into several design and innovation contests -- all of which he went on to win. The Lightie was also shortlisted as a finalist in the international Designboom Awards, but Suttner was not eligible to win as the prize could only go to a yet-to-be-released product.
It took three years of research into the situation for Suttner to get to this, though.

"Being on the doorstep to Africa here in South Africa, there is a lot of awareness about how many don't have access to electricity and how many people die each year from paraffin usage," he tells Wired.co.uk. "I realised that the technology was there... I couldn't understand why this problem wasn't being solved, so I decided I wanted to research a little bit more."