Getting to know you: James Vyse, CEO, deltaH Innovations

James Vyse is the founder and chief executive of deltaH Innovations, the Cardiff company behind Cool>Can, a drinks can that chills itself. The first commercially branded version goes on public show at London Packaging Week at Excel London today and tomorrow, carrying Brains’ Bayside Welsh Lager. He tells Business Matters how it got there.

What do you currently do at deltaH Innovations?

I am the founder of deltaH Innovations and the inventor of the world’s first self-cooling can, which takes a can of drink from warm to cold in less than 60 seconds at the flick of a switch.

The technology is a can within a can. A push-button activates a chemical reaction between water and a patented salt-based coolant, which pulls the temperature down by between 10C and 15C in around a minute. No fridge, no ice, no power. The activation module, Cool>Connect Mini, is reusable and refillable with tap water, and the can itself is fully recyclable through standard beverage can recycling, independently verified by OPRL.

What are you showing at London Packaging Week?

London Packaging Week will be the first place to see a commercial Cool>Can. Up until now, we have been sending and discussing prototypes, but what we will actually be presenting is the first Cool>Can in a commercial partnership, with the brand actually on the can. It is a huge leap from technical development and towards mainstream market adoption.

I am also speaking tomorrow at 12:00 in the Discovery Theatre, on turning packaging innovation into reality.

What was the inspiration behind your business?

I had worked in the drinks sector for a number of years, and my previous business was in ready-made cocktails. One thing that always frustrated me was having a drink that was meant to be enjoyed cold, but finding it was warm when you were on the go and did not have access to refrigeration.

I knew there had to be a better solution, and that was really where the idea came from. I wanted to find a way of giving people an ice-cold drink wherever they were, without needing a fridge.

Why Brains, and why Wales?

Brains is a Cardiff brewer and our first commercial partner, and its Bayside Welsh Lager is the first branded product to go into a Cool>Can. There is a nice symmetry to that. In 1935, Felinfoel in Llanelli became the first brewery outside the United States to put beer in a can. Wales brought the first beer can to this side of the world, and now we have brought the first self-cooling beer to the world.

We spent two years developing the technology and we run a pilot production line here in Wales, supported by a £500,000 grant from the Welsh Government towards technology and manufacturing development. That kind of regional backing for innovation counts for a lot when you are building hardware outside London. I am incredibly proud to be Welsh, and I want to build something here that can have a global impact. Wales has a history of doing things first. My ambition is to build a Welsh unicorn.

Who do you admire?

That has to be James Dyson. I really admire what he has achieved, but also how he achieved it. He took an idea, kept developing and improving it despite the setbacks, and ultimately created something that changed an industry. I think there is a lot to learn from that kind of persistence.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

No, not at all. I went through around 200 prototypes while trying to get the self-cooling can right, many of them developed from my bedroom, so there were definitely challenges along the way.

But I always knew I was onto something special. There were times when it would have been much easier to give up, but those setbacks were part of the journey and ultimately helped us get to where we are today.

What defines your way of doing business?

My small team has been with me since the beginning. They have believed in me and the product throughout, and it is really important to me that I take those people on the journey with me. Of course I want the business to succeed, but I also want the people who have supported me from the start to share in that success.

Over the last 18 months I have had some incredible meetings and opportunities that I could previously only have dreamed of. But as a born-and-bred Cardiff boy, I am particularly proud that our first major partnership is here in Wales.

Hopefully this is just the beginning. I want to create jobs, build something significant here and help put Wales on the map for innovation and engineering. We have developed something genuinely different, and I am incredibly proud that its story started here.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Believe in yourself and, if you genuinely believe you have a good idea, do not give up on it. It is very easy to listen to everyone else’s opinions and end up questioning your own gut instinct. Take advice, of course, but do not lose sight of why you started in the first place.

At the same time, do not try to run before you can walk. Getting the fundamentals right at the beginning is incredibly important, and you can build from there.

I have always been someone who dreams big, and I do not see anything wrong with that. If you have an idea you truly believe in, back yourself, run with it and see where it takes you. My dream is to get on a plane and land anywhere and see a Cool>Can.

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