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Innovation

June 26, 2025

 

How traditional trades are embracing new tech — and how tradition is also informing it

From window washers using drones to a new refrigerator based on ancient techniques, innovation is a two-way street.

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Joshua Farrington

Contributor

In Tech

In Tech is our regular feature highlighting what people are talking about in the world of technology — everything from crypto and NFTs to smart cities and cybersecurity. 

 

Small business owners have to wear a lot of hats. The creative hat. The paperwork hat. The mopping-the-floors and unclogging-the-toilet hat. When you’re in charge, everything is your responsibility, and there are no places to hide. 

With so many challenges ahead of them, it’s no surprise that small and medium-sized enterprises would look to technology to try and make their lives easier. Whether they’re opening websites, making use of apps, or just taking digital payments, technology has streamlined how many small businesses work and expanded their horizons. 

Even the most traditional trades find themselves embracing new technology. Window cleaners have been around forever, and while some are still slinging the classic combination of ladder, bucket and Squeegee, others are finding novel ways to tackle tough cleaning jobs — even turning to drones to reach the spots that other cleaners might miss. 

“The drone’s a lot quicker. It’s five to ten times quicker than any other method of cleaning,” says Lyn Lambert, who, with her son Greig, founded the firm KTV Working Drone Scotland. Speaking to the Aberdeen Press & Journal, she described how the drone could clean windows and facades at a height of more than 300 feet, using a heated, purified water system linked by hose and piloted by trained operators.  

“We’ve now got a sensor that sits on the drone and works with GPS,” Lambert said. “You scan your points of the building. You tell the drone from left to right, the height of the building, and away it goes. When it comes across any balconies or that, it’ll take itself out. However far from the wall it is. It’s fantastic.” 

 

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The firm has won cleaning contacts through the Scottish central belt and are hoping to work with more large commercial clients such as shopping centers and airports. 

But innovation for small businesses doesn’t have to be as high-tech as a drone. Entrepreneurs in India are turning to “frugal innovations,” often repurposing traditional techniques and materials, to build their businesses and serve their communities.

Mansukh Prajapti, a potter’s son, used his knowledge of clay pots to develop a cheap clay fridge, which can keep contents cool without using electricity. Speaking to the BBC, about his invention, which took four years to develop, he said: “Fridges are a dream for many poor families. And such dreams should be within reach." It took $22,000 in loans, as well as selling his house and workshop, to bring his invention to life, but the $95 MittiCool is now sold in 300 stores around India, and exported around the world.

The world is a much smaller place thanks to technology, as Ben Newman, aka “Spudman,” could tell you. 

Newman, who runs a food truck selling baked potatoes in the British town of Tamworth, has gone viral online in the past year with his self-made TikTok videos showcasing his generous portions pulling in fans from around the world, who often line up for hours to eat his creations.

As well as drawing in customers, his social media fame helped save the business earlier in the year, when the local council wanted to move the truck from its current location in order to develop the square. As the Daily Mail reported, after more than 113,000 people signed a petition to save Spudman’s pitch, the council pulled a U-turn and offered him his original spot. 

Of course, as well as business-saving opportunities, tech can also pose challenges for small businesses.

Michael Woffindin, an entrepreneur from New Zealand, could disrupt traditional barbershops with his invention, which aims to offer salon-quality cuts at home. His business, Hairspace, is at the prototype stage with its smart clippers, which map a user’s head, measures their hair, then automatically adjusts the blade length as the user cuts their hair, to end up with a specified style which can then be saved in an app for future cuts.

“I have spent so much time waiting in barbers, I thought it would be great to have my own clipper,” Woffindin told Stuff.

Whether or not his invention makes it to store shelves is yet to be seen, but small business owners don’t have to worry about haircuts — after all, they’re already wearing plenty of hats.