FrancisKodak Design Lab Ltd

The London entrepreneur creating life-saving road safety innovations

FrancisKodak Design Lab – An award-winning design and innovation consultancy offering virtual reality immersive training to improve road safety.

Founded by Ferenc Boroczky and with offices in London and Budapest, FrancisKodak Design Lab is an award-winning design and innovation consultancy. Using a unique blend of business strategy, technology, gamification and creative know-how, the company offers world-class training experiences.

Ferenc’s mission to make our roads safer

In 2015, when Ferenc was studying design research on road safety, one of his friends tragically lost his life in a cycling accident, “our time is short, shorter than we ever know, and I wanted to do something meaningful. I wanted to leave my mark on the world”.

Ferenc friend’s death strengthened his drive to help protect road users and create something truly impactful for road safety. He asked himself, “How might we use design thinking and human-centered design to improve the safety of roads?”

From this moment on, created by Ferenc, the flagship product for the business anet360 was born – a virtual reality and immersive learning platform designed to improve road safety for those who drive for their occupation.

This course can help improve driver reaction time by 20% and reduce training costs by 50%. Combining machine learning, traditional training methods and 360-degree immersive video technology, it simulates everyday driving situations to help students improve their skills and, ultimately, help make our roads safer.

In June 2019, anet360 was selected as one of the top 50 companies to watch in the UK by the Creative Industries Council.

Going to an anet360-powered training isn’t about doing a training. It gives participants the opportunity to be creative, see results of their new learning experience and to walk away feeling energised and empowered.

Ferenc Boroczky, FrancisKodak Design Lab

Support from London Business Hub – new business partners, pitch training and more investors

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Ferenc remained committed to his mission, “COVID-19 forced us to fully explore our potential and to be bold in our thinking. Change isn’t easy, but failure to evolve can limit their business’s capacity to keep growing.”

With innovation being an integral part of the business, Ferenc completed a further innovation programme. His adviser introduced him to London Business Hub, ensuring FrancisKodak Design Lab was receiving the support needed to keep the business going.

anet360 technology in use at blended learning event.

Highly experienced Business Adviser, Raj Tandon worked one-to-one with Ferenc to truly understand the business objectives, get clarity on developing the business offering and messaging, stay focused and give highly valuable advice and support.

To support Ferenc’s ambition to build partnerships with companies and technology providers, Raj helped Ferenc find new business partners and revamped their pitch deck substantially, leading to more conversations with potential future investors.

When you are starting off a business or working to scale up, you need someone who can help you to keep the vision because there is a lot of work to do. It’s so important to have someone who can support this. That is why the support provided from Raj at the London Business Hub has been immensely helpful in focusing our approach.

Ferenc Boroczky, FrancisKodak Design Lab

Innovation is at the heart of the business

Innovation is part of FrancisKodak Design Lab’s DNA. In partnership with road transport consultancy Transformotion Ltd, Ferenc has now launched the UK’s first Immersive Driver CPC consortium, to help companies offer smartphone-based immersive learning experiences to drivers earning their certificates.

FrancisKodak Design Lab’s are also working with Tobii Pro on their next innovation – to design unique solutions using an eye-tracking device.

To start something from scratch without any real money, VC or angel investment is extremely challenging. But when you are an entrepreneur you need the grit, passion, and perseverance to succeed.

Ferenc Boroczky, FrancisKodak Design Lab

Ferenc shares his advice for other London business owners

“I think it’s hard to run a business and it’s not that romantic as people see it in the media. But if you believe in yourself and the path you take, life will give you the confidence to follow your heart even if sometimes it leaves you exploring new opportunities in uncharted territories.”

“Your business has to be important for yourself as well as for your clients. Pay attention to the right things as they could point to new and emerging trends. Focus on providing real value to your customers and success will follow.”

Ferenc remains committed to designing technologies that will change the way we learn for the better, creating fresh, innovative and digitised solutions to help solve meaningful problems worldwide, “Change isn’t easy, but failure to evolve can limit their business’s capacity to keep growing. The pace of technological advances today can’t be ignored. It should be embraced”.

The London Business Hub and their knowledgeable and experienced advisers can help your business achieve your goals and get clarity on your messaging. The work we have done with Raj has helped us enormously to do just that, and the result - we have been selected for an exclusive pitch session for an accelerator program in Duisburg, Germany!

Ferenc Boroczky, FrancisKodak Design Lab