We are a Scottish company that originally developed a new tool for astronauts on deep space missions to communicate with Earth. That tool, Space Braiding, is now patented and has successfully completed initial trials funded by three major space agencies: NASA, the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency. Created by a neurodiverse founding team we place the highest value on being able to see things from other people’s point of view and embracing differences in a fully inclusive environment. Realising that Space Braiding could be evolved to support inclusivity by helping teams on Earth communicate more effectively, Braided Meetings was born.
Innovation in communication
About Braided Communications
The vision for Braiding
We began by solving a seemingly unsolvable problem: How can astronauts in deep space have natural, flowing, discussions with colleagues and loved ones on Earth? When astronauts head back to the Moon and then one day on towards Mars they will be so far away that any signals they send will take significant time to reach Earth. Live conversation as we are used to on Earth will be impossible. But using Space Braiding it feels to both people as if they are in a normal, real time, discussion. That could bring remarkable benefits, both to operational effectiveness of the mission and also to the crew’s psychological well-being
Space Braiding
Returning to Earth
We realised that Braiding is helpful on Earth too, as a new way of having inclusive meetings. We’ve all been in meetings where some people dominate – perhaps because they are more senior, more opinionated, more extroverted or more nervous – whilst others don’t speak as much – perhaps they are more junior, less opinionated, more introverted or neurodivergent. The meeting output reflects the thinking of those who dominated but it’s almost certain that everyone has equally valuable thoughts. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to get all views shared? That is exactly what a Braided Meeting delivers.