We celebrated Cambridge Design Partnership’s 21st birthday this month with a cruise down the River Thames followed by a black tie dinner for our staff at the Houses of Parliament in London.

Mike Cane, founding partner, said: “It was thrilling for us to be able to stage a very special dinner for the company in the Members dining room at the Houses of Parliament to celebrate 21 years of excellence in research and development. It was a great privilege to be shown around the House of Commons – the centre of government and democracy in the UK – before retiring to the dining room for our celebration. Standing under statues of prime ministers including Churchill and Thatcher in the members lobby brought home the amazing history of the palace, and added resonance and gravitas to our celebration.”

It was back in 1996 that CDP opened its first office near Cambridge, UK.  Founders Mike Cane, Mike Beadman and Matt Schumann shared a vision that product development would be best executed by taking a more holistic approach compared with more specialist agencies. Mike Beadman said: “When we started CDP we did not quite know what to expect and initially we just focused on survival from month to month. However, we are very pleased that we have been able to grow consistently for 21 years by providing a great service to our customers and reinvesting our profits to develop the world-class team needed to be the best at what we do.”

CDP’s emphasis is on putting the customer at the centre of a 360-degree innovation process that encompasses design, engineering, manufacturing and strategy to deliver complex and challenging products to market with an increased chance of commercial success.

This insight has stood the test of time and recently matured into ‘Potential Realised’ – CDP’s industry-leading and state-of-the-art innovation process. The team and facilities have also grown to deliver this vision, with more than 100 scientists, researchers, engineers and designers operating from a new R&D centre close to the original offices near Cambridge, and from an office in Silicon Valley in the US.

Matt Schumann, the third founding partner, said: “Our success is certainly thanks to our committed and talented team – and our loyal customers who come back to us time and time again. At the heart of the company’s DNA is a passion for innovation and a commitment to excellence in whatever we do. We are certainly looking forward to another 21 years of innovation.”

Following the recent and very popular blog “How to succeed as ‘Year in Industry’ students without burning the place down”, we are pleased to announce that our Year in Industry Student, Charlotte, has recently won the Engineering Development Trust’s ‘Award for Innovation’ at a competition in London on 3rd July.

Charlotte explained, “Each finalist presented for five minutes about the projects they have been working on during the year, ranging from cutting-edge heart surgery techniques to sustainable transport in Wales.  I talked about an exciting project where I helped create a novel fluidics kit for sample preparation for medical diagnostics. This work could lead to a new technology to enable point of care devices that will give patients immediate test results at a relatively low cost.”

She continued, “I am proud to have won this award. ‘Year in Industry’ is a spectacular scheme and I knew I would take a great deal away from my year, but I never expected this to include a little glass trophy.”

CDP Partner Jez Clements added, “Our congratulations go out to Charlotte for winning this exciting award. It just highlights the value the scheme has in developing the next generation of engineers. We have certainly enjoyed our students’ contribution over the last year and we wish Charlotte and Immy every success when they go to University in September.”

FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) is a global science and technology challenge for teams of students from 9 to 16 years, which encourages interest in science and technology and can develop key skills that are crucial for their future careers. The students work together to explore a topic and to design, build and program an autonomous LEGO robot to solve a series of missions.

CDP engineers have been mentoring our local team ‘B6 Berrellium’, and we are very pleased to report that last month they won the UK First Lego League in Bristol.

B6 comprises of six members, Albert, Quim, Oscar, Joan, Iona & Lluis, aged from 11 – 15 years. If you spend more than five minutes in a room with them you can’t fail to be impressed by their enthusiasm, creativity and ingenuity.

B6 first knocked on CDP’s door last year, as they’d heard ‘there was lots of cool stuff happening’ in our Cambridge R&D centre, and asked for a tour. We showed them the labs, Hackspace, workshops, and some of the products we have designed that are now on sale. Their enthusiasm soared on discovery that CDP staff have been both FLL contestants and judges in the past, and that we were only too happy to offer some advice and guidance.

From then on, CDP’s Adam Pledger, Oliver Hart, Mike Worth and Stuart Curtis had regular get-togethers with B6 to discuss potential projects for the FLL competition. With this year theme being Animal Allies, B6 settled on working out how they could use technology to protect honey bees from Asian hornets. For our mentors this meant trying to bring a practical perspective to some extremely ambitious technical solutions as the B6 team bounced ideas off each other. We empathised as we do the same thing here every day!

The second part of FLL competition is the Robot Game where they must build and program a robot to autonomously complete a series of missions. Each time we met they updated us on their progress. One requirement was to transfer barrels from one end of the board to the other in a limited time period with all machinery starting off in one corner. Their solution was to build a deployable structure to bridge the gap and send the barrels all in one go, which required lateral thinking, neat design and careful planning.

These solutions allowed B6 to win the UK FLL competition. The next challenge is to take their project and robot to the FLL World Festival in St Louis, USA in April and we wish them luck!

To find out more about B6 Berrellium, visit their website or tweet them @berrellium.

Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP) is donating a total of £25,000 to five charities in Cambridgeshire, UK and Raleigh, NC, USA, where it has fast-growing R&D centers.

CDP is celebrating its 25-year anniversary, having enjoyed record growth over the last 12 months, but recognizes that this period has been uniquely challenging for surrounding communities. Five local charities, four in Cambridgeshire and one in Raleigh, will receive £5,000 to further their mission. CDP is 100% owned by its employees and the charities were nominated by employee owners.

Chris Houghton, Partner, Head of FMCG said: “Our 25^th anniversary is a time to reflect on our purpose and culture. Part of that reflection is to acknowledge the way the pandemic has put pressure on the health and wellbeing of those around us and to work to make a positive impact in our local communities. We’ve chosen a range of charities working tirelessly to improve lives locally and we hope our support helps their vital work.”

The five chosen charities are:

Cambridge Sustainable Food addresses food poverty, food waste, and creating a sustainable food system.

“This generous donation will be used to further our work to build a more sustainable and resilient food system in Cambridge. We are working hard to create an environmentally and socially just food system, where everyone has access to healthy and sustainable food across the city. CDP’s support will help us to tackle climate change through food-based solutions, such as initiatives that will cut food waste and promote healthy, climate-friendly diets.”

Gemma Birley, Head of Programs, Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC.

Blue Smile addresses mental wellbeing for school pupils through art-based therapies.

“It was a wonderful surprise to be contacted by CDP and learn that we had been nominated for a donation. This kind of giving means the world to us – and is so important in helping to make a difference to local children, especially as we emerge from the pandemic. Your fantastic donation of £5,000 will contribute directly to the provision of 1:1 arts therapy to Cambridgeshire children who are struggling with their mental health, and will help those children to achieve their potential and enjoy the childhoods they deserve. Please pass on a huge thank you to your team.”

Jess Manley, Charity Director, Blue Smile.

Camcycle/Spaces to breathe supports local projects to help sustainable travel and outdoor spaces.

“Throughout the pandemic, Camcycle’s Spaces to Breathe campaign has continuously engaged with local authorities and communities to facilitate emergency active travel measures. As we begin to transition from reaction to recovery, our Zero Carbon Streets campaign will be ramping up with the aim of locking in – and improving on – much of the work that has been done over the past year. CDP’s donation will in part go towards a new technical staff member who will empower residents and authorities to implement high quality, accessible walking and cycling projects for them and generations to come.”

Roxanne De Beaux, Executive Director, Camcycle.