We would love to have Jumpack on the shop floor by next summer

We would love to have Jumpack on the shop floor by next summer

26 October 2016

A PASSION for extreme sports has driven one Downpatrick entrepreneur to a ground-breaking invention.

Phillip McIntosh is riding high after a portable ramp, painstakingly created for skateboarders and BMXers, was named overall winner of this year’s Invent awards at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

Jumpack, which has already grabbed the attention of technology giant Go Pro, is now expected to be on shelves within 12 months.

Having already secured sales agreements with Argos, sports retailer Decathlon, Podium for Sport and Chain Reaction Cycles and having just last week secured the American patent for his design, Philip said the level of interest and support for the ramp was “totally insane.”

He said the Invent award, which includes a £13,000 fund to help him get his idea onto the open market, coincided with him and his business partner Mike Crowe learning they were one of just 12 fledgling companies across the UK to reach the final stage of the Pitch at the Palace competition. This gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to join a prestigious business network to bring their ideas to life.

A former BMX champion and all Ireland downhill mountain trail bike master champion, Philip said his idea was first born four years ago when he was in Omagh for a weekend with his wife.

He said they watched as three young boys with BMX bikes struggled to carry their bikes, a sheet of plyboard and bricks from a garden into the park to create a ramp.

“They were around 12 and one of them was trying to push all three of the bikes while the other two struggled with the rest of the stuff,” he said.

“I remembered doing exactly the same thing in the late 1970s when I was a child and I thought to myself, surely somebody has created something so you don’t have to do all that.

“I went online looking for a mobile ramp and when I couldn’t find one I went to a patent lawyer to do a world search to see if anybody else had already thought of the idea.”

Philip was stunned to find his idea was unique.

“My friend Mike Crowe and I decided to join forces and we got to work, turning the idea into an actual product,” he said.

“We knocked up our first example using the legs of a camping table in my garage.

“We have been working on this for four years and are now on our seventh prototype, which has 93 moving parts. It is so much more sophisticated than that early model.”

Needing to come up with solutions to design issues as they arose, Phillip said they struggled to ensure the final product weighed less than an average schoolbag and also cost little enough to make that the final product would retail at under £130.

But delighted with their latest prototype, made in China, and following the interest of big retailers and an encouraging endorsement from the Duke of York at the first stage of the Pitch at the Palace competition, he said the portable ramp was ready to launch to the world market.

He said they were particularly excited by the potential of the American market where one in 10 children owns a skateboard.

“There are 36 million potential customers in America alone and there are no other ramps that are portable, in a backpack, like this,” he said.

“These are exciting times for us, we are heading to a trade mission in California in January and all being well would love to have Jumpack on the shop floor by next summer.”