The future is smaller, faster, cheaper… and more energy efficient

November 26th 2020 3 min read

James Baker

Ed Shelton

Power electronics technology is enabling big advances in electric transportation and smart energy delivery, as well as playing an important role in meeting the ever-increasing demand for global connectivity and data storage. In this blog, we explore some of these opportunities and the up and coming technology solutions that are already revolutionizing the world.

Electric Vehicles are fast becoming mainstream. For example, Tesla has developed from a start-up to a company with significant production capability, and we can see dozens of new models entering the market helped by financial incentives and tax breaks aimed at reducing fossil fuel demand. Market analysis firm IHS Markit predicts over 300 electric car models will be available in the EU by 2025. Batteries, electronic drives and the charging infrastructure are the foundations of this revolution, facilitating a transition from energy delivered rapidly in liquid form, to the clean and convenient power conducted by copper wires. However, right now the UK electricity grid infrastructure, like many around the world, can’t cope with significant adoption of EVs. So it is likely that smarter grid solutions, enabled by power electronics will be needed to support this innovation.

Another major application of power electronics is renewable energy conversion, both in consumer and commercial applications. While cleaner energy is a longer-term play, governments around the world are investing and carbon emissions are being driven down; for example, the UK has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050, and is poised to bring forward a ban on new fossil fuel vehicles to 2030 from 2040 as a way to help speed up adoption.

Other demands on energy are growing fast as well. For example, the number of devices connected to the Internet is exponentially increasing each year as our desire to consume data, such as online streaming services continues to grow. This in turn drives networks, storage, bandwidth, and ultimately an increasing requirement for the electrical energy that powers these systems.

These applications all depend on power conversion or moving the electricity from one format to the next as the energy travels from generation to storage to point of use. To support this revolution, the electronic building blocks needed must become smaller, cheaper and more reliable, and most importantly, more energy efficient.

Advances in semiconductor technology such as new power switching devices based on Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) wafer materials offer faster and more energy efficient switching performance than ever before. These WBG devices are a crucial ingredient to achieving higher power densities and greater efficiency when compared to traditional Silicon-based power converters.

WBG devices can switch faster, run hotter, handle higher voltages, and are available in smaller foot-print packages. Cost is a critical factor at the moment, but for the right applications they can offer a step-change improvement in both overall system-level converter cost and efficiency; representing a significant breakthrough and enabling new and exciting end applications. In the longer term, as production volumes rise, WBG devices are expected to reach price parity with Silicon MOSFETs. For GaN on Silicon devices, perhaps cost parity will even be achieved with Silicon IGBTs, due to their common Silicon wafer processes and greater process simplicity for the GaN device. As an example, both Tesla and Toyota have already used Silicon Carbide semiconductors in the traction drive systems for their electric cars. These devices have also found application in the DC and AC power converters in both the off-board and on-board charging systems.

However, WBG devices are not a simple drop-in replacement for existing Silicon devices. They present significant implementation challenges, often resulting in performance that is far from optimal, or designs that prove unreliable and prone to failure. Engineers have passed through a learning curve with each new generation of Silicon switching device. WBG devices are a significant step in that evolutionary path and require even greater attention to circuit details; in particular, a good understanding of low inductance high current printed circuit board design.

Fully accessing the benefits of WBG devices requires significant detail engineering. What was once the realm of the power electronics engineer has now become a significant cross-functional challenge. The latest chip-scale packaging requires careful attention to thermal management that is a collaborative design between electrical and mechanical disciplines to create a multi-physics solution. Also, in these high-performance circuits, test and measurement present significant challenges as fast switching edges generate harmonic frequencies that are well into radio frequency engineering.

But the business opportunity is the potential to get a better product to the market and avoid getting left behind in an inevitably changing technology environment.

CDP has a specialist team of engineers who can create new products with energy conversion utilizing the latest WBG technologies, and get them to market rapidly. Using our core capabilities, technology building blocks and quality processes, we can help realize the promise of smaller, faster, cheaper…. and a more energy efficient future.

Dreaming big during COVID-19

November 16th 2020 3 min read

Laura Sierra

Product designer Laura Sierra is working with Cambridge Design Partnership as part of the marketing team. Here, she reflects on what she learnt during an international design competition, the Dream Big Challenge.

Laura says: I’m an industrial product designer from Colombia, now specialising in marketing and communications for the design world. I’ve studied for a Masters degree in Science and Marketing at Anglia Ruskin University. This led to me working on a project here at CDP, communicating all the amazing and innovative work the company does to the wider world.

In 2015, I had a wonderful opportunity to join a team competing in the Dream Big Challenge. It’s an international design competition for youth teams and to my surprise and delight, our team won. The whole experience was life-changing. Usually, the challenge takes place in a vast hall in Barcelona, where teams have just three hours to come up with disruptive and exciting solutions to design challenges.

This year, I was scheduled to get involved again. But, of course, Covid-19 meant that the plan for hundreds of young international designers getting together was never going to happen. The contest is sponsored by the likes of Santander and Nike. Cancellation would have been a major disappointment to all concerned.

But instead of giving up on the competition altogether, the organisers moved it online. So we competed anyway, using communications technology such as Zoom, working against the clock. This year’s online event attracted 900 competitors from all over the world. More than 350 projects were submitted, making this last-minute switch online a huge success.

My team chose to focus on the field of Education, as several of us had a keen interest in this area. In our home country of Colombia, a substantial percentage of children are not able to go to school and are also unable to reach the internet. So they miss out on education entirely. Could we think of a way to reach them?

To our delight, our project, called Ekko, scooped the third prize in the Education category. Our project was based on the idea of reaching children in remote areas via SMS messaging and radio. We aimed the project at pupils from 12-18 upwards, who could follow a class on the radio and interact with teachers via SMS. Many families have access to phones and radios in Colombia but do not have computers or access to the internet. And, of course, this model has potential in so many countries around the world. In Colombia, 47.7% of the population (23 million people) do not have internet access in their homes.

I learned a lot from the hectic three-hour webinar in which our team designed this education programme. Much of what I learned is proving very useful in my other online collaborative work during the Covid-19 crisis. Here is what I discovered about teamwork when you’re all working remotely under lots of pressure:

1. Have the right tools

I soon realised that it is important to have the tools which allow you to migrate between online and offline with ease. Make sure you have digital tools, creative materials and can do (and share) fast sketching so that you can share ideas as seamlessly as possible. In the competition, colleagues were connected from other places, even in different time zones. Working remotely using tools like Zoom, Google Meetings and WhatsApp was possible but also very intense. There is no doubt that online events change human interaction and experience. It is essential to have the proper tools to hand, allowing creatives and entrepreneurs to develop their projects remotely in a flexible and stress-free way.

2. Find your common purpose

A common aim really helps an online project. If you have a clear reason why you’re undertaking the work, things will be much easier. In our competition there was a choice of five different sectors: Health, Sport, Education, Work and Sustainability. I worked with university professors Andres Rubiano and John Higuera. All of us are passionate about social innovation and wanted to change education, making it fun, free and interactive. This really helped our motivation when things didn’t go smoothly.

3. Creativity is key

Using your imagination in challenging times is more important than ever. An open mindset allows us to manage challenges. I truly think that each day is an opportunity to learn and design a better world. The key is to let our imagination fly, allowing it to create and to not panic about failing. This competition taught me that, even during a lockdown, working remotely, it was possible to connect online, study other projects, explore new ideas and connect with new people.

In conclusion: I’m delighted to say that our project, Ekko, is now in the throes of becoming a reality in Colombia. It looks as though those tumultuous three hours of intense activity could end up changing the lives of thousands of children for years ahead. That really is a good result, isn’t it?

Innovation visionaries and entrepreneurs converge for the Global Innovation Forum 10th anniversary, in an inaugural Virtual Edition

November 10th 2020 4 min read

Over the last ten years, the Global Innovation Forum has built an enviable reputation for an annual assembly of some of the world’s most influential innovation leaders and creative business pioneers. Each year they share cross-sector insight, personal stories of success, and critically, the important lessons learnt through failure! In this milestone anniversary year, the organisers have responded to world events in true innovation style by pivoting, from the physical gathering in London, to going digital – in a live, fully immersive experience running from the 17 to 19 of November.

Combining streamed talks, virtual tours, digital workshops and 1-on-1 video meetings, three of our own innovation leaders, Ben Strutt, Chris Houghton and James Harmer, will be hosting a series of diverse talks with international personalities who have each broken new ground in their respective fields.

This year’s event theme “Bring back the fun”, could not be more appropriate, better timed, or more greatly needed as the world continues to adapt to widespread remote working and fewer face-to-face collaborations. Buzzing with a line-up of design and innovation leaders from companies including Google, Disney, P&G, Amazon, Unilever, Lego, IBM, Impossible Foods, Glaxo Smith Kline, Mondelez, plus world record breakers, and design legends, it promises to deliver a high-octane three day virtual event.

website_cdp-body_ben-strutt-head-of-design “In times of crisis, society repeatedly displays extraordinary resilience, capacity for adaption, and change. It is likely that 2020 will be remembered as a defining period in which bold steps were taken to reimagine the future, initiating years of mass technology and service progress, compressed into just months” commented Cambridge Design Partnership Director, Ben Strutt.

“While challenges lay ahead, there are so many reasons to be positive and inspired by the experiences of others, get connected (safely!) – and have fun – values that resonate strongly with our Employee Owner team”

For 25 years Cambridge Design Partnership’s integrated team of researchers, strategists, designers, engineers and scientists have worked in partnership with our clients across consumer, industrial and healthcare markets, on the toughest challenges – pushing technological and creative boundaries – to improve lives and create better experiences.

“This Virtual Edition of the GIF event will be an extraordinary opportunity, in an extraordinary time for a wider global audience than ever before to be inspired, and connect with like-minded innovators”.

Three of our senior innovation leaders will host six of the streamed discussions, and be available for further conversation throughout the event. We are also able to offer an exclusive discount code on delegate passes – please reach out to conferences@cambridge-design.com to find out more.

Meet our event moderators and the sessions they’ll be hosting, in this short video:

website_cdp-body_moderator-ben-strutt-head-of-design

“The peculiar Amazon approach to culture and innovation” with Eric Tachibana, Amazon Web Services. November 17th at 10:30 am

“Chasing perfect” with Frank Stephenson, Iconic Car Designer. November 18th at 10:00 am

“Overcoming obstacles, living in the moment and avoiding risky situations” with Kane Avellano- Adventurer, Entrepreneur & Guinness World Record Circumnavigator. November 19th at 13:10 pm

Tribute to the late Sir Ken Robinson, 1950-2020, prior to the broadcast of the most watched TED talk of all time, ‘Do schools kill creativity?’ November 19th at 12:40 pm

James Harmer

James leads insight and innovation projects for major food and beverage industry clients, with responsibility for ‘joining the dots’ between consumer needs, strategic opportunity, and breakthrough branded-packaging innovation. With a portfolio spanning more than 25 years of partnership with global FMCG companies, including Unilever, Nestle and PepsiCo, James has a strong focus on helping clients unlock innovation opportunity in a sustainable circular economy.

James commented “It’s an amazing privilege to speak to some of the world’s leading innovators across such a broad range of areas. I’m going to be exploring diverse topics from the carbon budget to the future of comics! Ken Lashley will be bringing a different perspective on how to integrate creativity into their work to inspire everyone and Gif. Whilst Rebekah Moses is sharing an incredible case study on ‘planet saving innovation’, addressing the future of food that will have everyone engaged and enthused”.

“Becoming one of the comics go-to cover artist” Ken Lashley, Marvel. November 18th at 13.50 pm

“Addressing climate change & sustainable food futures through plant-based meat” Rebekah Moses, Impossible Foods. November 19th at 13:50 pm

Chris Houghton

Chris is Head of FMCG at CDP, leading brand innovation & packaging design capabilities and is a Partner in the Business. He is a designer and strategic innovator with over 20 years of experience working with global brands to deliver new products and packaging. During his career has been entrusted by more than 100 brands – ranging from Cadbury and Coca-Cola to Lego and Reebok. Chris is delighted to be interviewing Ivy Ross, VP, Head of Design for all Hardware Products at Google.

“Google has grown at a phenomenal rate over the past 20 years, investing and acquiring a diverse portfolio of innovation assets, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. Expanding from software into hardware required a clear design vision which Ivy has orchestrated over the past seven years. Combining design and science, empathy and analysis, their hardware products boast a distinctive identity and have humanised technology within our increasing smart homes” reflected Chris.

“The intersection of Design and Science” with Ivy Ross, Google. November 17th at 15:30 pm

We hope you can join us at GIF, November 17^th-19^th to see the full agenda. For more information, you can contact us at conferences@cambridge-design.com

Circularity in context

October 19th 2020 7 min read

Picture the scene: a room full of executives are watching a presentation on company strategy (actually, let’s move with the times… they’re all at home, watching on Zoom). A simple, elegant image of a circle dominates the screen. Will they support the adoption of circularity principles across the business? In unison, they nod. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it’s what the rest of the market is doing. Circularity is an essential component of a forward-looking business strategy.

But in each of their minds is a nagging question… How?

Why is circularity important?

“Circularity” is a word that has become ubiquitous in the sustainability strategies of many of the world’s biggest brands, from Apple (variations of the term ‘circular’ appear 27 times in their latest sustainability progress report) to AstraZeneca. Spearheaded by advocacy groups like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the concept has intuitive appeal: maintaining the value invested in materials and products for as long as possible seems like good sense, given the effort, skill and resources required to produce them. It should also be good news for a planet that is running out of capacity to supply us with raw materials and soak up our waste.
Behind the elegant concept of circularity, however, is an incredibly diverse range of steps with varying degrees of applicability – and environmental benefit – in a given situation. But the need to simplify this into marketing messages and calls to action has led to Circularity becoming a buzz word, applied so broadly that it risks becoming meaningless. Companies, keen to move into this green and pleasant new vision for the economy, are looking for simple, off-the-shelf ‘cricular’ measures that they can adopt quickly – sometimes at the expense of a proper assessment of whether the approach is appropriate and truly beneficial for them, their customers or indeed, the environment.

In this blog, we look at why Circularity in Context is of fundamental importance and the approach CDP takes, working in partnership to provide our clients with the best possible sustainable outcomes, instead of pushing a square peg into a circular hole…

Context is King
Take this as an example. An enthusiastic company want to generate a new beverage offering that is due to launch in an up and coming developing market – let’s call it ‘Circular Soda’… for now. They want something that has the kudos of being ‘Circular’, which seems an attractive USP for a marketing message. Time is spent identifying the right grade of rPET (recycled PET plastic); starting with a circular material in the first place seems like a great idea. But… when the brand launches with sustainable claims emblazoned on the label, it’s not long before journalists realize that this ‘recyclable’ rPET is not being recycled in practice, as there is no recovery or recycling infrastructure in this market! Context is king… had the company thought it through a ‘circular’ solution, based around recycling, is actually not the best fit for this market, even if it is perfect for other regions. Sadly, in some instances, this kind of example is not that far from the truth.

A great real-world example is our old ‘frenemy’ the plastic bag. Few are aware that this innovation in 1959 had sustainable circularity front and center in the mind of its Swedish designer, Sten Gustaf Thulin. Sten calculated that a plastic bag that could be reused time and time again was a far more durable and far less energy intensive product than the common 1950s cotton or paper bags. He always carried his beloved innovation in his pocket, just in case he found himself doing a spot of shopping… (70 years later we find ourselves reaching into our own pockets for Sten’s reusable bag, in a consumer culture that aspires to be more circular… if only we could remember not to leave them in the car!) Unfortunately, the context that became king in the 1950s and decades following was convenience. Bags were so cheap to produce and so desirable for consumers as a disposable convenience, that Sten’s planet-positive pack has become a slur on sustainable living. This is where the introduction of filters in the process of innovation is key. What are the factors that might pervert intended circularity, and how can the design counter this?

Back in the boardroom, chief execs are still looking at the circle on the screen and scratching their heads with a killer question in mind.

How do we put circularity in context?

At CDP, our Circularity in Context model enables client teams to look at a brief through a broader lens, with the ability to consider what’s happening now as well as what will influence innovation in future, via 4 key filters that will help drive our understanding of which circular opportunities are most applicable. These filters extend far beyond the business or product itself, looking at the wider ecosystem and emerging trends that are shaping it.

The societal filter looks at the ways in which governance and politics influence the markets our clients are operating in, and how society as a whole might embrace or reject certain opportunities due to attitudinal or legislative parameters for change. This can drive future regulation, infrastructure development, or R&D investment.
The economic filter helps us understand ‘viability for change’ from a commercial perspective; what commercial pressures occur in the context that their brand and product is operating in? What criteria are used to appraise investments? What is the existing asset base?
The user filter puts us in the shoes of the end users, either ‘consumers’ (B2C) or customers (B2B); how should a proposition meet their needs and does a move toward a more circular solution provide gains or create pains for them? How might their habits and behaviors have a positive or negative impact on the viability of a more circular solution?
The technological filter is an exceptionally important one that’s often overlooked. CDP rely on a broad group of experts with deep knowledge in science and technology to determine how a ‘circular idea’ can become a technically viable reality, as well as identifying emerging technologies that could enable new business models in the future.

As much as people want to be unfettered when pursuing creative thinking on how to adopt circular approaches, these filters constitute whether a circular concept could become a viable reality for our clients. So, developing a brief with our clients for a successful outcome with these filters underpinning innovation – aiming to be circular, but doing it in context – is the key to success.

Game-changing?

As a team of researchers, designers, engineers and innovators, we want to develop great sustainable products! Much of the focus of current efforts to embed circularity into products has focused on utilizing circular materials; the leaders in the field are extending their ambition to more resilient, returnable or repairable models. A great example of the adoption of ‘game changing’ circular thinking, at different levels, now exists within the Toy industry. The first level in improved circularity is moving from dispose to recycle; at the end of 2019 Mattel announced its goal to achieve 100% recycled or recyclable plastics in its products and packaging by 2030. New entrants to the toy market (such as Toy-Cycle and Whirli) have gone a step further and established a ‘recommerce’ platform, where outgrown toys are shipped directly to the company to be sorted, repaired, resold and returned into the system. This commercial model for a lending library – recycling parts, not materials – is perfectly in keeping with a new generation of consumers who don’t want to condemn their child’s personal plastic Toys “R” Us store to landfill, or even the recycling bin. The societal context is shifting!

However, being circular in our choice of materials and components is often only one opportunity; bigger ones might exist if we are willing to look beyond the product as it is today. We opt for a telescope before a microscope – we’re interested in the detail, but we’re just as interested in the bigger picture, where the big innovations often lie. Applying systems thinking and looking beyond circular material usage could uncover a totally new way of delivering the benefits people currently derive from the existing product.

Some entrepreneurial businesses have had a eureka moment when their context is well placed to offer them the chance to do something radical and reimagine a product, system or service altogether. With the games industry booming, (in no small part due to the current pandemic), this year it’s set to reach a phenomenal $159.3 billion in sales¹. With many asking where the potential for growth is, innovation has pivoted away from games linked to hardware formats. Inspired by smartphone innovation and leveraging an expertise in cloud computing, Google Stadia and Amazon Luna have emerged as serious challengers to established players such as Xbox and Playstation. Hardware tomorrow will be so yesterday. Brands in this new gamer age look like the style of their landing pages and the quality of their games and content, not the console or the cartridges or discs that once ran on them. By 2021 video gaming sales are due to hit the $200 billion mark; one can only imagine how the absence of hardware will increase the profit margins within this behemoth entertainment industry.

By considering the wider context around a business, and how this might change in the future, it’s possible to identify opportunities that – like in the game-changing example – offer enhanced value to customers precisely because they are more circular and less reliant on consumption of materials. As the famous quote goes, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole”!

A partnership approach

We are known for working in close partnership with our clients (it’s in the name!), but also for offering an evidence-based, independent perspective when assessing circular options and the surrounding context using both a telescope and a microscope. We believe this approach can de-risk circular innovation strategies by identifying opportunities that fit the situation, and even reimagine the product or service entirely. Circularity is definitely not one-size-fits-all – but with careful consideration of context, we think there is a circular opportunity that’s right for everyone.

Connect with CDP

For more on how to apply circular design thinking in the right context for your business, products, and markets, contact Cambridge Design Partnership.

GET IN TOUCH

Crankl: from the bike shed to the operating theater, how CDP created a novel surgical tool

September 8th 2020 5 min read

Matt Brady

It is important to start each innovation journey with the broadest possible mindset because this opens the door to all sorts of different solutions that might exist outside one team’s experiences. A great example of this philosophy in action was the design of a surgical torque wrench that we developed recently.

The story starts with one of our engineers who was a cycling enthusiast. He saw an unmet need amongst cyclists who owned ‘high end’ carbon fiber bikes for a simple torque wrench to stop them over tightening screws and damaging their bike frame. So, in his spare time, he came up with a simple, plastic, single piece wrench design that indicates the right torque every time. He publicized his idea on a trends website, but unexpectedly he received messages from surgeons who were also bike enthusiasts.

It turned out that orthopedic surgeons were frustrated by the tools they had to make sure that screws used to fix fractures and implants were not over tightened. Plates are commonly used to support fractured bones and over tightening the screws can break the screw, damage the bone or make the screws difficult to remove, under tightening can allow the fixation to become loose.

A torque wrench is a tool that indicates or limits the torque applied to a screw. They are used across all engineering sectors and surgeons have similar devices adapted for the operating theater. However, the inherent cost and complexity of these tools mean that they must be reused, which in turn creates additional processing complexity and cost for the hospital. Before each procedure, they must be thoroughly sterilized and tested, which is time consuming and open to error.

Single use medical devices have seen increasing adoption since their early introduction in the 1960s, initially for their ability to displace durable devices with their requirement for costly reprocessing, calibration, adjustment etc. Over time their potential to deliver when sterility and performance are paramount has become increasingly prominent, as they can be manufactured to tight quality standards and tested, packed and sterilized in controlled factory conditions where economies of scale make this cost-effective. Following pressures towards sustainability and ever-reducing costs the trend is swinging back again – with devices leveraging the benefits of single-use style designs, but with more robust materials and designs to allow a limited number of reprocessing and re-use cycles (multiple-use devices).

What was needed here was a single or multi-use wrench, that was accurate, easy to use and did not require maintenance.

The plastic construction of the bike wrench showed us that a single, low cost, plastic molding could be used as the active element in a basic torque wrench. However, the surgical version would need to be more accurate & repeatable, have different settings for different screws, and be more usable in the surgical environment – with a form factor that allows single handed use, and haptic feedback indicating when the correct torque is reached.

The design team reviewed the original bike torque wrench design and analyzed where it could be improved and adapted for surgery. The original bike wrench had a beam that buckled when the right torque was achieved but this phenomenon was influenced by several parameters that could result in lower accuracy. Together with a more compact form factor that better suited surgery, a new design was envisaged that only relied on bending, so should be more repeatable. It also provided better haptic feedback to the surgeon.

The design was modelled in 3D CAD and underwent FEA simulation to better understand how it would perform. This allowed the first round of optimization to get as close as possible to the desired performance. To allow the ergonomics and ‘feel’ to be evaluated, a first model was made using 3D printing. The Crankl surgical torque wrench was born.

When the wrench was assembled, the team were pleased that they had got close to a design that would meet the surgeon’s requirements. But 3D printed materials perform differently to the injection molded plastic that would be used in the final design, so another step was needed to verify the system would work. The team needed to have real injection molded parts in the correct material to test.

Moving to ‘production intent’ manufactured parts is a big step in all medical device developments. Medical devices have to meet strict standards to be placed on the market and CDP’s experienced device development and quality engineering teams ensure that this happens, in line with our ISO13485 certified quality system and device development process. This means that at the end of development all the correct processes and documentation will have been completed to support a submission under the EU Medical Devices Regulations and / or to the FDA, as appropriate to market need.

Obtaining molded parts is usually an expensive and time-consuming step because mold tools have to be designed and manufactured. These are complex and take time to make, and errors can occur that can affect performance and the validity of the test results – requiring a further iteration. For this reason, CDP has developed a “rapid digital molding” approach which uses 3D printing to very quickly make mold tools into which target polymers can be injected – rapidly creating production-intent parts.

The window for innovative diagnostics is open

August 5th 2020 5 min read

Dan Haworth

Head of Diagnostics

Richard Owen

Bio-Scientist

Pari Datta

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented a time-limited but immense window of opportunity for diagnostics companies. Changes in regulation and increased levels of investment are enabling radical innovations to have real impact, but only if they can be fast-tracked into new products which are cost effective and compelling to users. In this article we review some of the product releases and look at the long-term effects of this unique situation.

The WHO’s message of ‘Test, Test, Test’ echoed around the world and since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, diagnostics companies have dropped their existing R&D programs to focus on SARS-CoV-2 test development.

The FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) has enabled a quick route to market for products that have not received formal approval, and for many companies, the outbreak has stimulated significant cash injections from government and private organizations. The Covid-19 situation has meant products can be launched faster than ever before.

Engineers and scientists have been working intensively while the EUA window remains open, including teams at CDP who are in the final stages of developing a molecular platform for Covid-19 testing.

Most tests (~80%) authorized under EUA are molecular tests that detect the presence of viral RNA. Two companies (Becton Dickinson and Quidel) instead targeted detection of a protein within the virus particle (an “antigen” test) rather than detecting its RNA. The promise of home-based tests that detect antibodies (to determine if someone has had the virus) was unfortunately dashed by poor performance; the 26 authorized antibody tests are all lab-use and primarily involve large expensive equipment, rather than a low-cost pregnancy-style lateral flow strips that use a drop of finger prick blood.

Molecular tests on platform devices

First off-the-mark were companies that already have a device which can be repurposed for Covid-19 testing. Automated lab analyzer running PCR (the molecular ‘gold standard’ test) require little in the way of hardware modifications. The SARS-CoV-2 molecular assay is a relatively easy assay to develop for these systems as it is similar to other respiratory diseases (e.g. for Flu A/B). Roche, Thermo, Hologic and Abbott Molecular all released their tests on large scale hospital lab equipment during the same week in mid-March.

Companies producing near patient tests on existing platforms were quick to follow, and in the following week Cepheid’s Xpert Xpress, Mesa Biotech’s Accula and Abbott’s ID Now were all authorized. These systems are highly portable and CLIA waived, so they can be used outside of lab settings. The Abbott ID Now (the re-branded Alere-i) uses isothermal amplification (rather than thermal cycling) which enables results to be generated in as little as 15 minutes. Compare this with traditional PCR which takes ~40 minutes, and these should be ideal systems for mass deployment into schools, care homes, pop-up clinics, even for testing passengers while travelling on commercial flights.

However, whilst these systems seem an ideal method for de-centralized settings, sample collection can be error prone and the cost per test is relatively expensive compared with central-lab testing. Combined with lower throughput, it is currently more cost effective for people to self-isolate while their sample is processed in the central lab.

New CRISPR-based tests

Start-up companies are making use of this window of opportunity by building products around potentially disruptive technologies, which may have been too risky to develop in more normal times. An example technology is CRISPR, the game-changing technology for gene-editing – now heading rapidly into diagnostics. CRISPR uses the natural defense properties found in bacteria to protect itself, ironically, from viruses. It is now being used to rapidly detect specific nucleic acid sequences. Sherlock Biosciences recently received EUA for its CRISPR-based Covid-19 test kit – and is working to bring the technology into a point-of-care format which can deliver results in 20 minutes within a doctor’s office or even a supermarket. GlaxoSmithKline is also working with Mammoth Biosciences to bring CRISPR-based technology into a hand-held, fully disposable product format. These products are at an early stage, but future developments will advance detection capabilities and potentially enable faster and lower cost diagnostics compared with traditional approaches.

Fully disposable molecular tests

There is currently a race to launch fully disposable molecular devices that can offer lab-quality results from the convenience of the home. The vision again is that of a pregnancy-test type device, but one which carries out the complex assay functions of a molecular test. Many of the devices in development use isothermal amplification due to lower power demands and ability to cope with reduced sample preparation. These first-generation devices are going to be initially very expensive, but companies are pushing the boundaries and paving the way for more accessible testing.

Antibody tests – “the wild west” of testing

Very low cost, home-use lateral flow immunoassay tests involving just a single finger prick blood sample was hoped to be the ticket back to normality. These tests detect if a person has antibodies to the virus and therefore potential immunity to re-infection. Manufacturers were pushing these out under EUA despite very little in the way of supporting clinical data, but hopes were short-lived as high false negatives meant the tests were unsuitable. In some cases, results were so poor, it was comparable to flipping a coin. The only antibody tests released under EUA are lab-based tests, not home-based, and use conventional serum, plasma or whole blood sample collected by a phlebotomist.

Recent data suggests antibody tests are not actually very good at detecting if someone has had Coronavirus; many virus-positive patients have been antibody negative, so there appears to be other immune responses taking place involving T-cells, but that’s another topic.

Changing landscape

While existing lab analyzers are currently the workhorse of testing due to high performance, high throughput and low cost, relaxation of regulations and rapid cash injections have meant there are some highly innovative new developments which are pushing the boundaries and re-shaping the landscape of point-of-care molecular diagnostics.

Faster and lower cost point-of-care tests that are more convenient to the end user have the ability to provide results while-you-wait, meaning local outbreaks can be identified sooner and less time is wasted unnecessarily self-isolating. With greater access and clear social and economic benefits, more people will engage with testing on a regular basis. Covid-19 testing applies to the global population – it is not just a one-time event, but repeated frequently, time and again. The market size is huge, and the commercial opportunity is immense.

But the window of opportunity presented may be short-term due to the nature of the current global circumstances. Companies will have to act fast in technology development to devise compelling embodiments that differentiate them from very similar competitors. Speed and innovative thinking will be key to win and maximize the opportunity.

Packaging – perceptions & preferences during the pandemic

August 5th 2020 5 min read

James Harmer

Head of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)

When we ‘locked down’, as a nation we had very little idea what to expect or indeed for how long. Major behavioural changes have come about as a result of the pandemic and our lock-down experiences, but what has been incredible to watch, as someone who has spent many years looking at consumer behaviour, is just how big an impact the Covid pandemic has had on our global preoccupation with ‘consuming’, and our physical relationship with packaging.

Packaging perceptions

People’s perceptions of packaging have changed during the course of the pandemic. It’s fundamental role as a ‘first line of defence’ to protect our products came under scrutiny. With many questioning whether packaging itself could actually be a ‘superspreader’. During the first month of lock-down, as well as the government guidelines on how to socially distance and take precautionary measures, we adopted many more of our own. For example, every crate of food that was delivered to my front door was sanitised! It became a family event, getting bags of new products out on the worktop and wiping them down with disinfectant! Plastic bags that had once been banished became a ‘disposable saviour’ in the handling of food quickly and efficiently without prolonging time at the front door. Although I found this behaviour irrational after a few weeks, especially after the FDA and other respected bodies announced there was no data to support the notion that COVID could be transmitted via interaction with packaging, astonishingly a snap poll of 1,000 people interviewed in April 2020 by communication agency G&S, stated that 44% of respondents were continuing to clean products with disinfectant. Although this cleaning frenzy has now subsided and my family are back to the normal habit of letting me pack all the shopping away, single-handedly… the COVID pandemic has left a significant mark on our relationship with products and packaging.

Packaging semiotics

One of the areas where some marketeers have responded quickly, are the semiotics of packaging. This can be as simple as the language used on a pack to reassure consumers, in some cases, it can be a total visual overhaul. Clients in a large global soap manufacturing firm were considering the launch of a new visual identity for some of their brands in the midst of the pandemic. They told me recently that there was an immediate U-turn in keeping with the consumers need for reassurance about hygiene, responding to the pandemic. In this case “kills 99.9% of germs”, was a more reassuring message for consumers than ‘lifestyle’ graphics or colour schemes suited to the interior design of the bathroom. How long the u-turn will last is yet to be seen, but it’s clear that consumer reassurance is a high priority and will probably continue to be for some time to come.

A great case in point, when it comes to our relationship with packaging and how we handle our food, is fruit and veg. As part of the backlash against plastic, supermarkets were being encouraged to remove single use plastic wrappers around these items. But ‘naked’ vegetables, shrouded in protective shrink wrapping, have proven favourable over loose items during the pandemic. Clients in the beverage world have recently been exploring ways to generate new forms of secondary carry handles that enable consumers to pick up part of the pack that has not been handled by store staff, or indeed anyone else within the supply chain. Although this might seem unnecessary, consumers spend less than 5 seconds on average choosing products in frequented commodity isles. So leveraging consumer auto-pilot decision making that’s been influenced by a heightened awareness of risk avoidance and safety, will naturally present opportunities for brands to stand out, in commoditised categories where points of difference and unique product positionings are increasingly hard to find.

Packaging convenience

Of course, convenience has always been king in many of the decisions we make about the products we buy and the packaging we are attracted to. But this need increased during the lock-down period as pre-packaged meal kits enabled us to conveniently avoid the shops altogether and dramatically rose in popularity. I was ‘a Gousto virgin’ until April of this year. But I now eagerly await the delivery of restaurant quality cuisine delivered straight to my door in a chilled red box every week! Each part of the meal individually packed for convenience, pre portioned for exactly what’s needed as I don my apron and fool myself into thinking I’m Jamie Oliver. (For anyone that’s unfamiliar with the recipe box phenomenon, think painting by numbers with food). Although, you simply can’t avoid feeling guilty when putting a red Gusto box full of cardboard out for the weekly bin collection (as well as finding a way to reuse the fleece, included to keep the pre-packed food cool!). Gousto reported challenges in keeping up with demand on their packaging lines and Mindful Chef, offering a similar service reported a 425% spike in new recipe box customers during the lock-down period. A McKinsey report on the 2^nd June stated that consumers have continued spending more time cooking at home and that most expect that the impact of Covid on their routines will last for well beyond two months. So as we re-evaluate how we want to shop post lock-down, it will be interesting to see if pre packed food delivered straight to your door dwindles or continues to go from strength to strength. What is evident in this increasingly buoyant e-commerce era, is that excessive packaging is at odds with manufacture, retailer and consumer commitments to move toward less packaging.

Conclusion

Consumers foundational packaging needs are safety, trust and the associated reassurance it provides. The Covid pandemic has exposed many associated consumer foibles and anxieties around the perception of packaging and its importance in our modern day world. It has also catalysed new future business models for how we might prefer to shop in convenient and reassuringly distanced ways in future. But we have yet to reconcile this with the increasingly important need to move away from excessive single use packaging, in light of the environmental crisis that still looms, albeit behind the immediate challenges of this Pandemic. Innovation will be essential in balancing all these needs in a new era of packaging that can reassure, add value and minimise the environmental impact. If you’ve enjoyed this article, watch out for my next instalment of the blog, where I wrestle with the challenge of packaging sustainability and some brave new ventures in response to the increasingly urgent need for radical ideas and innovation.

If you wish to explore packaging sustainability challenges and avenues for innovation, benefiting from CDP’s expertise across categories and markets, contact:

Innovating for context; The role of Anthropology in innovation

July 21st 2020 4 min read

Jessica Platt

Ben Strutt

Although we don’t often hear the term ‘anthropology’ referenced in the innovation process, anyone charged with this objective knows implicitly that the key focus areas of language, culture, society and place, are critical when it comes to the harmonisation of a brand or the successful launch of a new global product.

The growing adoption of user-led approaches to front end innovation (FEI) means that global new product development teams are highly motivated to understand the cultural background of their target user’s social, functional and emotional needs. Anthropological thinking has a lot to offer new product innovation by providing a range of tools that help shift perspectives, making the strange appear familiar, or re-defining an experience to make the familiar even more intuitive, more relevant, more personalised…or perhaps more provocative. Our collective goal as innovators is to create products and services that will resonate within different cultures, deliver meaningful value, and improve lives. Anthropology offers an analytical lens for insights that reach beyond what people say, to access the culturally influenced assumptions that underpin their decisions and behaviour. This allows us to create products and experiences that resonate with our users lived experience.

Anthropology and ethnography

Anthropology is the in-depth understanding of people and place and is implicit to much of our FEI work at Cambridge Design Partnership because the history of Anthropology is closely intertwined with ethnography. At CDP, we use lean derivatives of ethnography to support our client’s fast-paced innovation initiatives and to keep them user-focused. With the growing pressure for innovation teams to be ‘agile’ and ‘lean’, we continually develop even faster contextual insight methods that engage real people in exploratory research, and co-creative activity. As the world changes, we rise to new challenges by adapting many of our ethnographic research methods to utilise digital techniques and ensure that we can continue to successfully access the deepest insights from people based around the world, no matter the global context. This is more important than ever in a ‘new normal’, where social distancing policy is now restricting routine daily physical interactions.

Ethnography in innovation

Whether it is conducted in person or online, ethnography is all about empathy; it is an opportunity for us to put ourselves in the shoes of our consumers, to understand what resonates with them and validate what is meaningful. This is essential to develop a unique and believable product specification and strategy. Ethnography is particularly powerful when used in combination with other analytical overlays. Anthropological thinking pushes ethnographic research beyond immediate context to access other subconscious influences behind key decisions.

Incorporating anthropology in ethnographic research creates an opportunity to interpret how deep-seated cultural nuances might also be impacting on what consumers aren’t saying explicitly in a research scenario! This is a crucial level of understanding when creating a globally relevant product that can be seamlessly incorporated into daily activities. When we run research remotely, applying an anthropological lens to our discussion guides and being creative about the way we ask people to share their lived experiences with us becomes even more important, because we are often limited in how much behaviour we can see. Our questions must therefore be clear and targeted to reach a depth of understanding from a distance!

Learning to ‘read’ culture

Understanding the culture of our target users is crucial for success because culture changes the way that people understand their experiences. For example, the user experience provided by McDonald’s in all restaurants around the world are virtually identical (economists famously use the Big Mac as a global measure of price index), but culture alters the experience that diners have. Whereas in the UK fast food has a mixed reputation for trading off quality for convenience, in some regions of South Asia, McDonald’s signifies high status and is frequented by the wealthy middle classes. The sacred status of a cow in India, brings yet another pivotal McDonalds perspective. McDonald’s may look the same, but the experience it provides is transformed by the cultural context.

Logos, brand-marks, and tag lines are assumed to carry a universal meaning, but context can change the way that they are understood. Semiotics and the cultural psychology of colour can also be effectively combined with ethnography to investigate the signs and visual cues that influence people’s understanding of the world they inhabit, which may be missed by a research team not attuned to these themes.

Often it is only through immersing yourself in another culture that these different systems of understanding become clear. For example, although it is common practice to eat with one’s hands in Sri Lanka, it is considered extremely rude to lick your fingers at the end of a meal. I only learned this crucial etiquette when I flagrantly broke the ‘rules’ at a dinner with some Sri Lankan colleagues.

My embarrassing mistake caused the people I was eating with to explain a rule that was usually unstated. As I walked down Galle Road that evening, I passed an advert for KFC:

KFC
It’s finger lickin’ good.

I have seen the same sign thousands of times but that evening the tag line took on a completely new significance. In a country where eating with one’s hands is the norm, but it is taboo to lick your fingers, does KFC actually offer a different brand identity? Is the tag line transformed from being nostalgic to become a bit maverick… a bit saucy?

In this case, the contextual overtones of the tag line don’t appear to have negatively impacted KFC, but there are many examples where subtle (or not so subtle) cultural readings or mistranslations have presented brands with uncomfortable challenges to un-pick, which could have been proactively predicted had a cultural research lens been applied earlier in the process.

Anthropology offers a raft of effective desk and field research tools to access the things that go unsaid within cultures which, once articulated, reveal important insights that can radically redirect and refine a product specification or a global brand strategy.

For breakthrough innovation to take place, it is essential that a new product, service or brand proposition resonates with the audience. This means not just looking beyond what people say, but adding an anthropology lens to understand the non-verbal, semiotic and sensorial cues, to reach the foundation of the very assumptions that influence their daily decisions, and which remain largely unspoken.

The systems approach to formulation and product design

July 21st 2020 3 min read

Mark Buckingham

Today’s liquid and paste formulations, from washing up liquid to shampoo to toothpaste are complex structured fluids or solids which are designed to meet the demanding needs of consumers. It is tempting to regard the formulation or recipe as the main challenge. However, these complex formulations behave very differently in the range of environments they experience across their lifetime, such as manufacturing, filling, distribution, storage and consumer use – sometimes leading to unexpected failures. Should we adapt the formulation to work with the process/packaging or vice versa or both?

Seeing the Wood for the Trees

We take a systems approach to designing and developing new formulations. Put simply one must consider the interactions between manufacturing process, formulation, distribution chain, application device or packaging, regulations (monographs, storage requirements etc…) as well as consumer habits and usage requirements. This has long been the goal of all product development groups but reality is often different.

Often there is a focus on only some of these parameters, for example the formulation, packaging, regulatory and consumer attributes, and then a huge effort is subsequently spent trying to adjust the manufacturing and distribution chains to accommodate the product – incurring unnecessary cost and time delays to new product introduction. This has a huge and often neglected economic impact, from personal experience this can add as much as 5% to the total delivered cost of the product.

Putting the Toothpaste back into the Tube

Many real-life examples exist of these manufacturing issues. These include a shampoo product, where the manufacturing line speed had to be turned down to prevent issues with filling bottles, such as dripping, mounding and air entrapment. Another was the high level of product rejects due to incomplete sealing of toothpaste tubes caused by the formulation stringing during filling. A third was the eventual upgrade, at a significant cost, of filling lines to accurately dose out a structured fluid and prevent periodic under-filling.

These solutions were a consequence of an incomplete understanding of how to design a recipe to cope with manufacturing and filling where there are quite extreme forces and shear rates involved. Recent advances in rheological equipment and methods, coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamic modelling now enable formulators to simulate these conditions and explore strategies to reduce or eliminate these issues. We have reached a tipping point where formulators can now actively design complex fluids to be easily prepared, as well as fulfil their other design criteria thus potentially avoiding unnecessary costs.

Delivering the Optimum Four-season Solution

Many companies are exploring new e-Commerce business models with products being distributed directly to the consumer, bypassing large parts of their centralised distribution network. This presents an interesting challenge to ensure products and packaging are designed to survive shipping and still deliver the intended consumer use experience. To help solve this puzzle it is important to obtain real-world data of what actually happens to your package before it reaches the consumer. Does it freeze in the middle of winter in Canada, or bake during the height of summer in Florida? Does it experience massive pressure swings as part of air freight causing packs to burst open? How often does the temperature cycle from high to low and back again, and how much vibration or shock loading does your pack receive?

All of these considerations can have a drastic impact on the integrity of your product and brand image and affect consumer acceptance. It is important to put together a testing protocol to verify that the formulation and packaging solution are sufficient to cope with any extreme conditions. We have experience fitting customised tracking sensors inside packaging and if necessary inside the pack itself. This enables real shipping or usage experiments to be run and high quality data collected to guide product design and stability requirements.

Putting it All Together

At CDP we have access to tools and techniques which can be used to explore important design spaces for formulated products, to avoid unnecessary costs and exploit new ways of doing business. Our broad combination of experience in Chemistry, Consumer Insights, Materials Science, Packaging design, Modelling & Simulation, Digital Systems, Manufacturing Technology and other areas can help you to take more control over your design space and specifications.

We do not specialise in just one area, instead we have experience in how all these aspects can work together across several industries, so that we can adapt and combine approaches from entirely different applications.

The recipe may be at the heart of the product, but it must work with the package and the process to provide the best possible customer experience.

Stay Safe Quiz: Name that Brand A-Z

June 9th 2020 4 min read

Chris Houghton

As lockdown restrictions slowly ease, for many there’s an enduring legacy of heightened awareness and behavioural change across the world. The coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate with loss of life and significant impacts to industry and people’s livelihoods.

Whilst situations vastly vary country to country, here in the United Kingdom, I feel heartened by the fortitude shown within communities to help one another during these difficult past few months. Locally I’ve witnessed a greater sense of togetherness, an appreciation of unsung heroes and selfless goodwill towards one another. Internationally, an array of innovations emerged from creatively designed and decorated facemasks, 3D printed hands-free door openers, through to building entire new hospitals and medical equipment in days.

These unprecedented circumstances have changed our everyday life, leaving us time to assess the things that matter most. Across our individual social, emotional and functional need states, we’ve collectively adapted and found ways to stay connected and to stick together.

One common form of connecting with each other during lockdown has been the growth of the ‘Online Quiz’, a very British response to missing weekly pub trivia and social engagement. Competing with colleagues, friends and family to test knowledge, in an entertaining and light-hearted way. Whilst this behaviour might sound alien and trivial to some of our friends overseas, it delivers on some of our most basic human needs. Socially, it connects us with others, providing a sense of belonging in a very primal, protection from the pack kind of way. Emotionally, it provides reassurance and certainty knowing answers are right or wrong rather than the ifs, buts and maybes we read and hear on the news. And functionally it stimulates our brain neurons to help our mental wellbeing which is especially important for those who are alone, vulnerable and/or self-shielding.

As a tribute to this behaviour and to continue its positive impact, I’ve authored a series of short quizzes to engage with, share and stay connected with others.

The quiz is called ‘Name that Brand A-Z’, which as the title implies, gives you 26 opportunities to identify a brand, organisation, individual or certification in alphabetical order. Some of the visual clues will be easy, others tricky and many tantalisingly familiar. Difficulty wise it’s pitched more ‘Millionaire’ than ‘Mastermind’, so it should be suitable to share beyond industry experts. There are six markets covered in this series giving a maximum score potential of 156/156. Any score close to a gross are clearly brand masters whilst many will be pleased to break the century. Good luck, enjoy and share with others.

Cambridge Design Partnership maintain stringent confidentiality towards all clients and related project work. We have no affiliation, endorsement or views towards the brands used for this game and have no responsibility or control with how this material is used subsequently by others.

Part 1: FMCG & Digital

The first quiz pairs Fast-Moving-Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Digital apps. These are the brands you scroll through on your phone and tablets providing on-demand services. Those you ponder when ordering online groceries or compare in the supermarket aisles whilst filling your trolley. Online grocery and e-commerce have accelerated during lockdown as people physically distance themselves and remain at home, this trend will only grow further over time. I hope you enjoy this espresso sized, coffee break distraction.

Part 2: Consumer & Healthcare

The second quiz pairs Consumer and Healthcare brands. These contrasting markets and companies have continued to provide life-saving medical treatment and equipment as well as clothe, entertain and connect us together. Healthcare companies have needed to become agile during this period and have adapted quickly to new emergency authorisation measures. In a collaborative effort we’ve seen consumer companies such as General Motors help the manufacturing efforts for ventilator production as global demand outstrips supply. However, it’s diagnostic testing that’s proven invaluable to inform management given the absence of effective therapies or vaccines. I hope this micro-dose of mental stimulation helps you and others to stay positive.

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Part 3: Luxury & Sustainability

The third quiz pairs Luxury brands and Sustainability organisations, individuals and certifications. Locally, many people have been walking and cycling more becoming increasingly reliant on local stores to replenish stock levels. Our environmental footprint collectively has reduced by default during lockdown with no international travel and working from home lowering our fuel consumption. Whilst greenhouse gas emissions have reduced, and air quality improved during this period it’s not a substitute for a stronger stance and strategy to address climate change.

With the associated economic downturn our spending has been more conscientious and conservative by choice or necessity. This has left the often-overindulgent Luxury category to be even more exclusive and removed from everyday life and reality. However, to say Luxury and Sustainability are mutually exclusive would be wrong. One famous luxury slogan which resonates is “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation” which is true of so many things including planet Earth itself.