Tag: Consumer

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By Ben Strutt, Martha Hodgson and Jessica Platt
June 23rd 2022
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Ben Strutt

Ben Strutt

Partner

Martha Hodgson

Martha Hodgson

Senior Insight and Strategy Consultant

Jessica Platt

Jessica Platt

Market and Design Insights Researcher

Emotion by design

WEBINAR

Emotion by design: Creative leadership lessons from a life at Nike

With Martha Hodgson
23 JUN 2021

As part of GIF 2022 Virtual edition, Martha Hodgson (senior insight and strategy innovation consultant) spoke to Greg Hoffman (author and ex-CMO at Nike) about the moment of inspiration that led him to Nike, how the mantra of ‘dream bigger’ has influenced him, and the art and science of innovation.

Complete the form below to watch the webinar

Zoological Society (Elephants)
By Tom Brittain
October 11th 2018
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Tom Brittain

Tom Brittain

Consultant Design Engineer

Helping Zoological Society of London create new anti-poaching technology

Cambridge Design Partnership is working with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) on an innovative monitoring system designed to stop wildlife poachers in their tracks.

Instant Detect 2.0 is an innovative satellite connected camera and sensor system that can be deployed in the most remote and inaccessible locations to provide sensor alerts and images in near real-time. It will bolster the work of park rangers protecting endangered animals such as gorillas, elephants and rhino against the illegal wildlife trade, as well as enhancing the work of conservationists around the world conducting Wildlife Monitoring and Species Preservation.

Conservationists have a significant need to monitor wildlife and habitats in real time. “An early version has already been used to watch penguins in the Antarctic,” says Tom. “It can be used for anything from tracking down rare animals such as snow leopards to gathering information from remote parts of the Amazonian rain forest.”

“However, the system can also be set to be triggered specifically by human activity, rather than animals, to serve as a highly accurate anti-poaching surveillance system”, explains Tom Brittain, CDP design engineer. “Instant Detect 2.0 will send alerts straight to the rangers. It can even take high-quality photographs of the poachers which can be used to identify them.”

According to Save The Rhino, more than 7,000 African rhinos have been lost to poaching in the past ten years. The United Nations calculates that 100 elephants are slaughtered every day in Africa for the illegal ivory trade.

The system is being created in partnership with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), based at London Zoo. “This technology is very much designed by conservationists, for conservationists,” says Tom. “We are very excited to be part of a project that will potentially save thousands of rare and endangered animals in the wild.”

Sam Seccombe is the Technical Field Specialist at ZSL who has been working with CDP on the project. He explains how the technology will combat poaching: “When a poacher is detected by the system, a threat alert and an image is pushed to the wildlife rangers working on the ground in under five minutes. Knowing where the poacher is and what sort of threat they pose allows the rangers to mount an appropriate response and stop the poachers before it is too late.” The team will shortly be travelling to Tsavo West national park in Kenya to test and trial the new equipment in the field.

This October, Tom Brittain of CDP is demonstrating prototypes of the Instant Detect 2.0 system at the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference: London 2018, a major international event hosted by the UK Government.

“What is special about Instant Detect 2.0 in comparison with other motion-triggered cameras is the fact that it sends its data securely via satellite, which can be picked up worldwide within minutes,” explains Tom. “Each picture or piece of data is gathered initially by low power, long-range radio, with a single Instant Detect base station connected to up to 10 cameras  or more than 100 activity detection sensors.

Cameras can be placed up to two kilometres from the Instant Detect 2.0 base station and sensors can be as far as ten kilometres. “The data is then transmitted globally via the Iridium satellite network, which offers the best possible global coverage,” says Tom.

“Here at CDP we are designing the kit to be small enough to be portable in a rucksack. The batteries will last for months and all the equipment has to be robust enough to withstand jungle humidity, freezing temperatures of Antarctica and extreme desert heat.” says Tom.

Importantly, the kit will also send alerts to users if the battery is running low, a device has been tampered with, or if maintenance is needed. This will be a huge help to conservationists, says Sam Seccombe: “There can be nothing more disheartening for a conservationist than to wait for a number of months to collect their camera trap images to find that, on day two of the deployment, an elephant has smeared dirt on the camera lens and they have collected a thousand images of mud.

“This allows conservationists to plan better, be more efficient and only trek deep into the field to their equipment when absolutely necessary.”

CDP started working with the ZSL’s Conservation Technology Team six months ago. “Our role is to create equipment that is resistant to heat, sand, ice and pretty much anything that nature can throw at it, yet also to be easy to set up,” says Tom. “When a conservation project is looking at spending, say £10,000 on a helicopter ride into a remote area to set up monitoring equipment, the kit has absolutely got to work.

“Instant Detect 2.0 is a versatile solution for both the fields of Anti-Poaching and Wildlife Monitoring. The system will continue to transmit data for months and that data can be picked up and analysed almost straight away. Plans already in the pipeline include elephant protection in Kenya, monitoring mountain lions near San Francisco and even tracking glacial retreat.

For further information and media enquiries, please contact: media@cambridge-design.com or call 01223 264428

By Alan Cucknell and Clare Beddoes
September 20th 2018
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Alan Cucknell

Front End Innovation Leader

Clare Beddoes

Clare Beddoes

Senior Medical Innovation and Research Consultant

How to get serious about sleep – for you, your customers and your bottom line

There is growing scientific evidence, media coverage and public awareness of the impact of sleep on our health. Not just how you feel today, but for your long-term health and productivity. Reduced quality or duration of sleep, even in those without a “chronic” sleep complaint such as insomnia or sleep apnoea, has been linked to increased risk of many medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity, cancer1, damage to the immune system, reduced tolerance to pain and reduced ability to cope with stress. In fact the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described insufficient sleep as a ‘public health epidemic’2.

But this is much much bigger than just a lifestyle or healthcare concern, this ‘epidemic’ of poor sleep has far-reaching economic consequences3. A recent study by the Rand Corporation put the cost of poor sleep to the U.S. economy at $411 billion/yr. So as Professor Matthew Walker (author of ‘Why we sleep’) argues, there seem to be pretty compelling reasons for all of us to “reclaim the right to a full night’s sleep”.

So, what are the implications of this sleep issue for your customers, and for your business?

As this interest in sleep grows, we are seeing a change in behaviours and spend. For some it is a return to “old tech” e.g. paper books for reading, less TV before bed, alarm clocks separate to smartphones. We may see a return to “old routines” such as earlier or healthier meal times, which in turn changes grocery shopping habits. It may even encourage adoption of “low tech” spaces (e.g. keeping phones and computers out of the bedroom), or “sleep spaces” such as Casper’s “Dreamery”. But while there are 100’s of products claiming to improve one’s sleep experience – from mattresses, pillows, sleep trackers, lights, apps and nasal strips, through to medical products to treat serious conditions … there remains considerable need for products that can translate the growing scientific evidence into tangible and effective sleep solutions. We see significant opportunities for new entrants that can address these needs in a way that doesn’t pitch “tomorrow’s health” against “today’s fun” and that can help consumers to build positive habits and relationships with their own sleep.

And let’s not forget the cost of poor sleep to companies and economies, should we also be reassessing the way we work? Is it really good to provide that free coffee and caffeinated soft drink? Are our travel schedules and policies appropriate given our improving understanding of sleep. Are there ways that employers (and those organisations that serve companies and workers) can address this?  Should we leave it to employees, or as employers, should we be “nudging” people, given the huge benefits to our businesses and society of better sleep? We’d love to know what do you think.

At CDP we’re passionate about improving lives through innovation, we provide solutions to everyday life affecting issues like sleep and its effect on health, happiness, creativity and productivity.  You can read more about one example of our recent work to improve sleep outcomes with ICON Health & Fitness here.

If you are interested in improving how people sleep, or how a fresh perspective on opportunities in sleep can help you and your company – please do get in touch.

1 https://www.aaas.org/news/sleep-deprivation-described-serious-public-health-problem
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5627640/
3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5627640/

IFA 2018
By Paul Gibson and Alan Cucknell
September 20th 2018
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Paul Gibson

Creative Designer

Alan Cucknell

Front End Innovation Leader

IFA 2018: 5 important themes in consumer electronics the caught our eye

The Internationale Funkausstellung IFA in Berlin is a showcase for consumer electronics innovation and if you’ve never been before it can be overwhelming, over 1,800 exhibitors from more than 100 countries. So we’ve reflected here on what stood out to us and summarised 5 key themes:

Smarter Homes: Who is winning the mindshare?

It’ll be no surprise that both Amazon Alexa and Google had a huge presence across the entire show. For many brands ‘Alexa enabled’ or ‘Works with Google Assistant’ provided a “smart interface” to the consumer home ecosystem. These clever voice interfaces place these giants firmly between the user and their device. This presents a paradox as these interfaces are fast becoming essential product features, but in supporting them users will ask “Alexa turn on the oven”, or “Google turn up the light” …and the hard working device brand loses out.

As people that always look for the real user benefits from connectivity, it was great to see several brands proudly stating their ‘un-connectivity’. Is this a sign that we’re reaching the peak of the IoT? Probably not, but we think it’s a sign the connected market is reaching a maturity with a greater understanding of the value, benefits and engagement that IoT can deliver, and most importantly when it’s not useful.

Inclusive Design: It’s good to see usability back in the spotlight.

With all the push to high tech electronics and software we were delighted to see products meeting every-day needs through great design. We saw design dramatically improving storage, usage and access to fridges, dishwashers, ovens and even usability of vacuum cleaners. Although we feel Inclusive Design principles could still play a larger role.

Consumables linked to appliances: Can they disrupt the traditional FMCG model?

The appliance industry has long played with how best to manage the relationship with consumables such as detergents, additives, filters etc. Most companies have grown to recognise the very different business models at play and sought out partnerships in development and supply.

So it was fascinating to see Bosch’s new consumables for dishwashers and laundry. Although developed in partnership they are branded and distributed as Bosch products that couple with its new auto-dosing functionality. Can they pull off a consumable business model?  Will the packaging design and proposition of “Bosch” detergent take market share from the big supermarket brands?  We’re excited to see how this plays out.

Made for me: Much more than aesthetic variants.

Not a new theme, but customisation continues to grow, in particular ‘made to order’ personalisation. We saw a wide range of examples sold through ecommerce and new retail concepts, encompassing products from small kitchen appliances to headphones. Customisation wasn’t solely cosmetic either, customers could change technical specifications and features relevant to them. We expect to see customisation go still further, with brands creating new stories around unique, tailored products. And more interesting, all of this without a 3D printer insight!

Sleep Better: Or perhaps just not yet?

As we recently discussed in our how to get serious about sleep blog, we’ve continued to see the growth of the “sleep technology category”. At IFA a range of start-ups and established brands claimed to help us sleep better, wake more refreshed and monitor our ‘shut eye’ like never before.

While we’re convinced about the potential benefits we observe that many product are very niche some come across as “pseudo-science”. One of the greatest challenges we see is to prove efficacy and communicate this to consumers in a meaningful way.

In summary, IFA was an all-round engaging event and it demonstrated some powerful trends and developments in the industry. Please contact us if you would like to discuss how we can apply these trends to your products.

 

The risks and opportunities of the circular economy
By Philip Cohen
July 18th 2018
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Philip Cohen

Mechanical Engineer

China – opening the door to success

Many still hold the outdated belief that China’s expertise lies solely in manufacturing, and the ability to copy other people’s innovations. On a recent trip to China, I saw how this couldn’t be more wrong. China is poised for success – it has all the pieces in place, the manpower under its belt and, with the right partners, could outpace growth everywhere else in the world.

I had the chance to attend the Mobile World Congress Shanghai which showcased China’s rapidly growing strength in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to 5G to drones and evidenced the country’s lead on many cutting-edge technologies that are set to have a huge impact in the 21st century. China is now home to some of the world’s largest companies that are not just limited to the domestic market but have become established global brands, with corporations such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Alibaba and DJI all fetching valuations exceeding $10bn. Witnessing the sheer scale and speed of the country’s development during trips to China over the past few years, it’s clear this is just the beginning.

As part of our trip to Shanghai representing CDP, we took part in the inauguration of the Shanghai International Energy Innovation Centre (SIEIC), created by SHEnergy Group – one of the world’s biggest suppliers of electricity and gas. It has partnered with UK-based accelerator BGTA and used the launch to release a report that forms the basis of the centre’s strategy, studying effective open innovation culture and focusing on CDP and the Cambridge ecosystem as a proven centre of success. During the week, CDP consumer insight and innovation leader Cesar Lastra and I ran a training workshop for SHEnergy executives on the importance of open innovation for large corporates and took part judging a start-up competition – on both occasions having the opportunity to talk about how CDP can support Chinese businesses in developing a successful innovation strategy.

Open innovation has seen a large uptake in China but why are corporates there now increasingly focusing on this model? Although the market audience of 1.4bn people is huge, competition is equally vast. Many highly successful Western companies have failed in China, such as eBay, Amazon – and  Uber, which spent $2bn trying to compete with rival private Chinese ride-sharing firms before selling to competitor Didi. A major contributor to getting ahead in this highly competitive environment lies in open innovation – the practice of innovating through the use of external ideas to fast track your progress. Anyone who assumes this means simple ‘copying’ of ideas from the West seriously underestimates the capability of this superpower.

Huawei, for example, is now considered a world leader in the field of smartphones, having outpaced Apple’s global phone sales in 2017. A huge factor responsible for its success has been its open innovation system – a network that connects Huawei engineers with high-profile university academics to help them rapidly solve tough technical challenges. Another exemplary case that can be seen all over China is WeChat, China’s mobile messaging app that puts WhatsApp to shame. Its open strategy of partnering with third-party developers and giving them access to the platform to enhance functionality has made it one of the most-used apps in the world, with more than 1bn active users. What started as a messaging app has become more of an ecosystem that people use to navigate their daily lives – used for social media sharing, payments and a whole suite of other services.

A recent global survey by CB Insights on corporate strategy found that key failure in effective corporate innovation occurs through having a closed attitude towards innovation, trying to build alone as well as having no formal innovation process, which in turn greatly increases the time it takes to develop new products. Many successful Chinese corporations are realising this and are increasingly seeing the value in technology collaboration to remain ahead of the curve. One only needs to look at the pace of the country’s progress to see that they are doing something very right.

It’s clear that open innovation is bringing great success in China and is a successful model that can be followed worldwide. This is what we do every day to help many of the world’s top brands develop market-focused technology and deliver highly innovative products to market.

Exploding some of the myths about product safety
By Colin Plimmer
July 16th 2018
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Colin Plimmer

Senior Consultant Electronics Engineer

Exploding some of the myths about product safety

Hardly a week goes by without the press or social media picking up on a story, often accompanied by dramatic video, of batteries overheating and even in some cases ‘exploding’ in a consumer product – raising serious concerns about product safety among both consumers and manufacturers. In reality, these incidents are quite rare compared with the number of products sold. But when they occur they are very serious – both at a personal level for the user and at a reputational level for the manufacturer – with a lingering impact from product recalls and loss of brand value.

The vast majority of cases are entirely avoidable through robust product engineering and manufacturing approaches. Many incidents are, in fact, due to failures of the lithium-ion batteries used to power the device. This technology has a long history of issues in products as diverse as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft, where battery pack fires were widely reported, and laptops and mobile phones – in particular, the Samsung Galaxy Note7 where Samsung had to recall millions of the handsets due to widely publicised handset fires and it led to a ban on taking the handsets on aircraft in the US. The problems that cause lithium cells to overheat and eventually catch fire or explode are well known – but we continue to see these failures occurring in devices on the market, due to either circuit design issues, incorrect mechanical embodiments or poor cell manufacturing processes. Some instances have even been blamed on ‘user error’. But we disagree on this point – in a properly designed product, user errors should not lead to hazards.

For example, in the case of e-cigarettes, especially those where the battery is interchangeable and charged outside the device, ‘user error’ is cited as a major contributor – with cells being charged with whatever charger is to hand, potentially driving them at too high a voltage or current, or cells even being replaced with low-quality, under-rated or damaged cells. Some of the most dangerous battery failures occur when the device fails in the owner’s trouser pocket – for example, when unprotected spare batteries are kept in a pocket along with loose change and keys, which then cause a direct short across the cells. These failures, and subsequent high-profile reporting of injuries, would have been avoided with good design practices and understanding of common usage behaviours. Product design engineers have many tools to call on to make a product safe, including electronic protection within the circuit itself, physical design features preventing connection of incorrect chargers, and correct allowance of space for the battery within the product envelope.

Whilst the manufacturers of high-end brands understand how to safely build and manage lithium-ion cells, many companies still risk failures in the field when they source and rebrand low-cost products from manufacturers that do not apply the necessary design practices and manufacturing controls. These products are usually designed to be as cheap as possible and, as such, often miss out many of the key safety features that the high-end brands include in their products. One example of this is the lack of thermal management. Lithium-ion cells should not be charged at temperatures above 40-50˚C, which can easily occur if the device has just been used to drive a heater (such as in cordless hairstylers or e-cigarettes) or has been left on a car dashboard (for example, portable power packs to charge mobile phones). Safe products contain internal temperature sensors to check the temperature and delay charging until the cells have cooled down. But sometimes cheap products omit this feature – risking the cells overheating, which can lead to a fire or explosion, especially if done repeatedly.

Whilst some categories of products are required to undergo regulatory safety tests, most low-voltage, battery-powered products are exempt from this, so a product with lithium-ion batteries can be launched with little or no safety testing having been carried out. Standards do exist but they may not have been implemented. Even if a product has been tested to the most common safety standards, such as UN/DOT 38.3 or IEC 62133, these standards tend to focus on the cell itself and may not offer sufficient verification that the product-level design will not cause long-term damage to the battery cells, which may lead to them failing many months after being sold. Standards do exist for usage of cells in specific product categories – but again, this relies on the product being engineered appropriately, with safety and the guidance of the standard in mind.

We would recommend that companies sourcing battery-operated products from original equipment manufacturers check proper battery design and manufacturing requirements are met and that the product has suitable back-up safety circuits to shut down the device should the primary charger or discharge circuits fail. At CDP, as well as engineering products to safely use rechargeable cells, we can also quickly analyse and test other product designs and samples to advise brand owners as to their safety and adherence with best design practices – to help avoid the risk of in-field failures and damaging product recalls. Ultimately, this is a service we would not need to offer if all products were designed and engineered with safety in mind – but we have not seen a reduction in the flow of incorrectly engineered and potentially dangerous products going to market.

 

How a sideways look can help you get ahead
By Jack Hornsby
July 4th 2018
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Jack Hornsby

Mechanical Engineer

How a sideways look can help you get ahead

For some innovation challenges, solutions already exist – it’s just that your industry doesn’t know about them yet. Dyson is the classic example – its iconic vacuum cleaner cyclonic separation technology was originally being used to separate particulates in sawmills. By identifying and linking a seemingly unrelated market opportunity with the technology for cyclonic separation, a $4.8 billion revenue vacuum giant was born.

Cyclonic separation is now considered the norm in vacuum cleaners. But it is only after the dots have been connected between the consumer’s requirement for separating dust from air and the cyclonic separation technology, that the link seems painfully obvious. Making these links is something which we do systematically through a process called technology mapping.

Inspiration by analogy – or design by analogy – is an outcome from our technology mapping process, finding broadly related industries, products or services that share a common focus yet often use a different perspective to find solutions. The idea of observing and ‘borrowing’ technology from other industries is a powerful tool for creative concept generation and tech scouting exercises.

So, what can be gained from borrowing technology? There’s a chance that someone, somewhere else is doing what you’re trying to do in a better, cheaper, more efficient way. Tapping into this knowledge opens up possibilities for radical innovation with novel solutions. But where might you start the process of searching for analogous solutions and how do you extract value from this technique?

The value of design by analogy will start with how your challenge is defined – you have to identify the right job and need to address. The well-quoted example is if you are a power tool company designing a new drill, the customer actually does not want a bigger motor or better speed control, but a better way of making holes in walls. By focusing on the job and associated needs, and abstracting their definition, you invite solutions that you may never have considered.

A well-defined challenge is essential to successfully scoping analogous fields – more difficult than you may think because it can lead to unintended consequences. You probably already know how your product should work, what it should look like, how it should be manufactured and how much it must cost to be profitable. By knowing what a product should and should not be, you can iterate, optimise and improve. While this works very well, however, it is unlikely to inspire anything game-changing.

To tap into the benefits of design by analogy, stay clear of the detail of today’s solutions. Broaden the definition of the challenge and consider the basic elements of the need you are trying to meet. The definition has to be expressed in such a way that almost anyone can understand it. Now you’ve opened up the contextual relevance to expert problem solvers from distant fields who can understand the context of your challenge. They may know nothing of how your product works, what it looks like, how it’s manufactured or how much it should cost – but fundamentally they could be doing exactly what you’re trying to do every day.

It is by framing the challenge in a way that others can relate their field-specific knowledge to – and by not getting buried in the specifics – that novel ideas are conceived and technologies sourced. The obvious candidate solution others deal with every day in their field could be a breakthrough revelation in your industry.

Let’s say you’re trying to design a coronary stent. You might look for analogy in scaffolding structures or perhaps aeroplanes or a plant lumen – all of which have engineered minimalist support structures to deal with external loads. Once these analogous fields have been identified, the right science and technology knowledge is required to develop them. You’ll need people with a deep understanding of those areas. This is where collaboration or ‘open innovation’ can become powerful.

The beauty of working within such a collaboration is the ability to explore much further afield by pooling together creative thinkers with expertise of different backgrounds versed in a range of analogous fields. Through collective knowledge and experience, you have the power to look at problems in a new light with a healthy variety of perspectives, without ingrained constraints and assumptions.

So next time you’re defining a challenge and tech scouting, it may be worth considering design by analogy. Find fresh insight beyond the usual assumptions and constraints within your industry for ideas that are truly novel and a source of groundbreaking innovation.

LinkedIn
April 18th 2018
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Breathing new life into clinical outcomes

The rise of connected devices and the variety of information they can generate is set to drive an increase in patient adherence to therapies. Our trials have shown that remote and hidden sensing of actual user behaviour can uncover unexpected and significant opportunities to improve the patient experience.

So how can connected technology help in the development stages of a new product, especially in a clinical environment? A recent study – Non-adherence: a direct influence on clinical trial duration and cost – by Moe Alsumidaie highlights the significant costs of non-adherence during pharmaceutical development. The study reported a 40% increase in patient enrolment to allow for non-adherence – adding an estimated $12m to the cost of a Phase 3 study.

We are also starting to see many medical device approvals in the connected space. MobileHealth reported 51 approvals in 2017 alone – the focus being on app-based patient management of disease, especially in the cardiac and diabetes sectors. There were only two respiratory-based systems reported – namely the connected spirometer GoSpiro and a new inhaler monitoring device for AstraZeneca’s Symbicort aerosol inhaler, dubbed the SmartTouch.

These solutions are enabling remarkable new capabilities for patients – and also for payers as we move towards outcomes-based healthcare. But are there steps that can be taken earlier in medical device development that can disrupt the whole process for the benefit of everyone?

What if we took a little bit of time to insert technology into products in either the clinical stage of drug development or early device design phases to understand how patients interact with the device and dosing regime? Two of the main methods to understand what has happened in a clinical investigation is to get patients to fill in a diary during their study and, on return, count the number of doses taken from the inhaler or capsule pack. Not quite 21st century.

Maybe, in the near future, clinical plans will include more advanced technology to enable a more accurate understanding of the efficacy of a new drug in development – was that poor resultant FEV1 clinical endpoint really due to the drug or was it because the patient simply forgot to prime the device and inhaled nothing but fresh air? Being able to unpick the actual usage data, so that these distinctions can be accurately made, could potentially help all stakeholders to better understand what the patient actually did and hence clarify where the subsequent opportunity to improve patient outcome actually lies – be it drug, device or training/education. In essence, it’s about using technology to guide design and development so that the appropriate solution is selected.

Here at CDP we wanted to go further and challenge ourselves to capture some very specific usage data for inhalation, whilst avoiding the Hawthorne effect and without changing the external form factor, thereby minimising any influence on user behaviour. It is common knowledge that all inhalers have associated use errors, so we took a commercially available one that has documented use errors and inserted miniature sensors that would enable both real-time indication and post-usage remote assessment of those use errors – namely priming action, orientation of use and inhalation/exhalation profile. We enabled the data to be time stamped and communicated to an appropriate output, in this case on-screen graphical readouts.

Behind this is the need to understand the volume of specific use data that gets logged and learn how to translate and classify the events represented as peaks and troughs on a graph. At CDP we have a wealth of experience of doing this across several sectors including sports and packaging systems.

If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air in your next respiratory drug delivery development, get in touch via hello@cambridge-design.co.uk or visit us at the RDD 2018 event in Arizona, 22-26 April on exhibit table 6.

CDP and ECCO - Step Forward
March 14th 2018
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A unique step forward – wearable sensor breakthrough from CDP and ECCO heralds a new era of customisation

14 March 2018 – Technology and product design firm Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP) has worked with leading shoe brand ECCO on a breakthrough in data-driven customised footwear. It opens the door to a new generation of customised footwear for the mass market – heralding an evolution in engineered comfort. Consumers will get a full digital analysis of their foot structure and the way they move in just a few minutes – and shoes will be tailored to their specific requirements in just a few hours.

The QUANT-U (‘quantified you’) project will have an initial public release at W-21 Amsterdam –  ECCO’s concept shoe store – in April. A key element is the wearable sensor embedded in the soles of the test shoes. It collects a multitude of data using gyroscopes, pressure sensors and accelerometers – as well as the temperature and humidity inside each shoe – to create a unique digital footprint. This data is autonomously translated into geometries for in-store 3D printing of shoes based on each individual’s biomechanical and orthotic parameters.

“The biggest challenge was the fact that the sensors are very close to the ground, hidden inside shoes and covered by a human body – yet they need to send data from both shoes simultaneously to a connected device such as a mobile phone,” said Roberto Basile, a software engineer at CDP. “We needed to maintain reliable communication – using Bluetooth Low Energy – despite the human body acting as an obstacle to the wireless signals. The mechanical system inside the sensor had to be robust enough for people to walk on it, while the battery had to be small and last at least three days without being recharged.”

The first prototype of the wearable sensor was created by CDP and ECCO in less than four months. The inbuilt algorithm filters the raw biomechanical data from the sensor into functional information. This data creates the input parameters for a 3D-printed customised midsole for individual customers in approximately two hours. For the QUANT-U pilot, the customised midsole will be paired with ECCO’s iconic Flexure shoe.

“Throughout my experience in footwear design and engineering, the concept of perfect fit, perfect dynamics and ultimate performance has long been an obsession,” said Patrizio Carlucci, head of ILE (Innovation Lab ECCO). “With QUANT-U we are now combining future technologies in order to augment footwear functionality without interfering with its aesthetics.”

ENDS

Notes for editors

Cambridge Design Partnership is a technology and product design partner focused on helping clients grow their businesses. Some of the world’s largest companies trust CDP to develop their most important innovations. Located in both Cambridge (UK) and in Palo Alto, California (US), CDP specialises in the consumer products, healthcare, energy and industrial equipment markets. Its multidisciplinary staff have the expert knowledge to identify opportunities and tackle the challenges its clients face. For more information, visit: www.cambridge-design.co.uk

Founded by shoemaker Karl Toosbuy in Denmark in 1963, ECCO footwear has since grown into a global brand with factories and retailers across the world. ECCO manages the entire manufacturing process from start to finish – ECCO designers develop the collections, ECCO-owned tanneries produce the leather and ECCO-owned factories make the shoes sold across the world. ECCO, from the very beginning, has fused together premium raw materials with dynamic comfort platforms to produce an unparalleled wearing experience for its consumer. For more information, visit: www.ecco.com

ILE is ECCO’s independent cross-disciplinary design studio. ILE explores, creates and delivers projects embracing alternative production methods, advanced materials, new technologies and experiential solutions in footwear. Results of the work can be found via limited edition collections at the experimental shoe store W-21 Amsterdam.

For further information, contact:

Cambridge Design Partnership
Marketing Team
+44 (0)1223 264428
marketing@cambridge-design.co.uk

ECCO
Teo Pazanin
Research and Communication at ILE
+31 6 38 68 55 67
tepa@ecco.com

Jessica Paulus
Strategist and Communication at ILE
+49 1 51 68 12 04 81
jepa@ecco.com

General inquiries
info@Quant-u.com

January 9th 2017
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Future Directions for Intelligent Packaging

Tom Lawrie-Fussey spoke to Packaging News at the recent Active & Intelligent Packaging World Congress

International names in retailing joined more than 300 attendees at the recent Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry (AIPI) World Congress, enough for 2016 to be marked a ‘breakthrough’ year for technologies putting new powers into the hands of brand owners, altering their perceptions of what packaging is and will become – an industry of tools for communication, quality control and shelf life extension.

Knowing the consumer
Knowledge is power, and smart packaging and smartphone together give brand owners a direct line to understanding what the consumer wants and how they behave. General Mills  brands have participated in a pilotQR digital labelling programme sponsored by the US grocery industry, and Kraft Heinz is exploring ‘frictionless’ tools to give mobile shoppers easier access to in-store promotions and improve customer insight data.

But the connected package and frictionless interaction comes at a high cost and, depending on the underlying job to be done, smart thinking might do the trick.

“Smart packaging can be zero-tech,” says Tom Lawrie-Fussey, Congress keynote speaker and leader of business development at Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP). For example, printing a picture of a flatscreen TV on a bicycle box saved a savvy Dutch company losses through damage in distribution of 70 to 80%. The boxes are similar in size and, as VanMoof predicted, shippers handle a TV with more care.

View the full article in the latest issue of Packaging News.