The practice of cycling to work, whether for convenience or keep-fit, has risen sharply in recent years: Yet cycling is still impractical for many people who need to dress smart for their job. Commuters wanting to cycle often have to sacrifice either a sharp look or exercise in their struggle to find convenient ways to cycle to work and look slick. Cambridge Design Partnership today announces an innovative solution to this problem.

Suitpack is a prototype of a compact rucksack that, with an innovative yet simple patented roll-fold concept, combines convenience with a crease-free solution for clothes. It is designed to hang easily from locations wherever required allowing easy-access to the clothes, toiletry and shoe compartments. The Suitpack has been designed for speed of use with its novel folding system making it an all-round solution for the modern commuter.

Increased commuting time and the ever more common practice of working long hours often mean that there is little time outside of work to dedicate to exercise. The convenience of cycling as a form of exercise, the popularity of various government cycling initiatives, and financial and environmental concerns, have all resulted in a significant net increase in cycle-commuting. 1.3 million new UK cyclists joined the roads last year, there are now 783,000 cycle commuters and the increase in cycling levels is predicted to continue to grow another 20% by 2015.

Furthermore, cyclists clearly enjoy spending on their passion1: The bicycle market in the UK was worth £1.62 billion in 2010, (up 28% on the previous year), with the accessories market worth £853 million. The average cycle commuter spends, on average, £195/year, and ‘enthusiasts’ a whopping £1295/year, on accessories. And that’s just the UK market; the EU cycle market is 10 times the UK’s with 4 million frequent commuter cyclists.

As part of their ethos to think differently, Cambridge Design Partnership has ventured into new capabilities by combining their traditional engineering and innovation skills with ‘cut and stitch’ design. This is another example of flexibility and versatility in applying innovation to diverse market opportunities and technology areas with the ability to gather rich, in-depth research to discover unmet consumer needs and tackle them with creative solutions.

“We know the challenges faced by anyone who has to pack smart clothes for the journey to work,” commented Ben Strutt, Head of Design at Cambridge Design Partnership. “Most people who go to the gym early, cycle or jog to work, and commute regularly in ‘practical’ clothes understand the need to change into smart attire upon arrival. This can be annoyingly impractical: Current poor solutions result in disruption to personal routine; lack of exercise, or commuting via different methods. There is also the issue of office changing facilities which tend to be cramped, impersonal, with floors too wet to put clothes on.

“Very often the trick of good design is not to reinvent the wheel; but to identify and understand problems, give a fresh perspective, and address a burning gap in the market. Here, Cambridge Design Partnership has provided an innovative, graceful solution to what is, for many people, an everyday problem, and which addresses a huge market need.”

It’s not just cyclists who will benefit from Suitpack. Many commuters wish to go to the gym before or after work, or during their lunch break, and Suitpack also fits within the dimensions of ‘hand luggage’ allowed by European airports and in railway ceiling racks, allowing business commuters to travel in comfortable clothes with all of the convenience of the backpack form-factor. Also despite its compact size there is still space for a laptop and important daily accessories.

Graeme Henderson, business commuter and partner in the project, says: “Life in the city can be fast and days in the office are often long, so many people find they don’t have time to go to the gym or play any sport. Commuting by bike solves this problem by incorporating exercise into your daily routine, so a healthy lifestyle and a busy job are no longer incompatible. But the problem of what to wear means the only options seem to be turning up with crumpled trousers, keeping your wardrobe under your desk or taking transport and exercising later. The Suitpack is a smart solution to all this.”

CDP’s Head of Design continues “Cambridge Design Partnership’s most recent demonstrator has evolved during the application of our usual iterative design process; with rapid experimentation and critiquing of successive models and prototypes we quickly learn about problems and opportunities, while refining the design for cost and labour effective manufacture.”

Cambridge Design Partnership is now interested in speaking with potential partners about the future branding and development of the Suitpack backpack, or its core innovations into other luggage designs, and on to the manufacture and distribution phase.

1 Dr Alexander Grous; ‘The British Cycling Economy: (http://corporate.sky.com/documents/pdf/publications/the_british_cycling_economy)

The joint prize was awarded to Cambridge Design Partnership and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Centre for Defence Enterprise for their collaborative efforts in creating a product designed to solve the safety and logistical barriers to using oxygen cylinders on the military battlefield.

The CDE acts as an interface for design and engineering firms in the free market to supply innovative solutions to the military. Cambridge Design Partnership responded to a call by The CDE to come up with a solution that would enable the military to safely transport and administer oxygen on the frontline. The result was the lightweight oxygen generator.

The concentrator works by cycling air pressure in chambers filled with a gas absorbing substance, atmospheric oxygen can then be concentrated to 95% purity. The unit can run on a variety of fuels including diesel. It’s lightweight and compact nature means that it is ideally suited for the unpredictable environment of a battlefield.

A panel of expert judges deliberated on criteria such as the degree of technical innovation involved in the entry; the value added to the entry through the collaboration between partners and the actual or potential impact of the entry on its market or end-users. Cambridge Design Partnership fought off stiff competition to be presented with the award at a ceremony held at The Royal Society in London.

“This award stands as recognition for the hard work undertaken by the Cambridge Design Partnership team in conjunction with the Centre for Defence Enterprise,” commented David Foster from Cambridge Design Partnership. “The CDE is a great example of a British institution helping to foster the kind of innovation found in forward-looking design firms. In the oxygen generator we’ve created something that has the potential to save a great many lives: This innovation would not have been possible without the clear guidance and collaboration of the CDE.”

Cambridge Design Partnership announces the opening of a US sales office in the Silicon Valley area to support the expansion of its medical technology business in the US. The new office will be led by respected medical technology expert and business leader Dr. Dominique Freeman, and will be supported by a staff of Cambridge Design Partnership’s leading medical technology engineers.

Based in Palo Alto, California, Cambridge Design Partnership’s new office offers innovative research, design and development capabilities to medical device and healthcare companies, both in acting as additional resource and in taking on complete projects. The new office also offers to foster young US medical technology companies through the challenging startup period; helping them to design products which are manufacturable and compelling, and moving them to market efficiently.

The new office’s leader, Dr. Dominique Freeman, brings a well-established knowledge of the medical device and healthcare industries, unique business development expertise, and an extensive network of contacts from within the industry.

Dominique’s skillset includes high-level business leadership, strategizing, sales and hands-on medical technology development. In particular, Dominique’s extensive experience in helping medical technology to market made her the ideal candidate for this position, as did her wide-ranging experience in developing and coordinating VC funding, IP creation and portfolio management and in and out licensing.

“I’ve worked closely with Cambridge Design Partnership for many years,” commented Dominique. “It was the team’s reputation for serious innovation in the medical device field that encouraged me to work with them in the first place. Cambridge Design Partnership is known by the medical device community for its unparalleled R&D and flexibility and for driving products to market including regulatory and manufacturing (pilot production and scale up).

At any given time there are hundreds of medical technology startups in the US with great ideas that are begging to see the light of day: However there’s also a critical dearth of affordable, high-quality help available in supporting them in making that leap from ‘ideas’ to ‘products’. I’m fortunate to have been involved in all aspects from incubating white space technology to spinning out a company, creating a patent and technology portfolios leading to licensing opportunities for technology and patents. This is an area where Cambridge Design Partnership can make a huge difference to the US medical innovation and technology-to-product landscape.”

Dominique has previously occupied operational roles including VP Research CTO, President and CEO. Within these roles Dominique primarily focused on developing Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG) devices and painless self-lancing solutions. Dominique was also responsible for overseeing the spinning-out of Pelikan Technologies from its parent company, Agilent, where she previously worked.

Prior to 2000 Dominique worked for Hewlett Packard Laboratories, General Electric Medical Systems and achieved her D. Phil at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Post-Doctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA.

“The opening of this new office is an indication of the growing number of US businesses looking for the innovative medical device R&D services we offer,” added Mike Cane, Director of Cambridge Design Partnership. “Dominique is known and respected, has hands-on experience of every level of running a medical technology business, and brings some very broad knowledge to the table. The opening of the US office is an exciting time as the company growth strategy unfolds and will continue to do so in 2012”

The US office is open today, and can be contacted via +1 650 798-5134.

Contact Dominique Freeman by email dmf@cambridge-design.co.uk

Cambridge, UK, 08 September 2011 – Drug delivery device developer Cambridge Design Partnership today announces that it has completed a research project with the Judge Business School in Cambridge, UK to map out the market dynamics and future innovations that could drive growth in the global drug delivery industry over the next five to ten years. The report contains input from a cross-section of top industry figures, including six senior executives from the top ten pharmaceutical companies and two senior regulators from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The global market for “advanced drug delivery systems” such as inhalers, injectors and infusion pumps is predicted to grow from US$139 billion in 2009 to US$197 billion in 2014*. and the report highlights a number of key factors that are likely to have a major effect on the structure of the industry in the future. For example, the phenomenon of the ‘patent cliff’, whereby over the next few years 7 of the world’s 20 top selling medicines will lose their patent protection, with hundreds more set to follow over the next decade is likely to significantly change the nature of the generic drug sector. Also the drug delivery device market will be significantly affected by the rise in global population combined with the aging of populations in the mature healthcare markets. Added to this is a shifting global disease burden, with the world seeing increasing dominance of non-communicable diseases.

Tom Oakley, Head of Drug Delivery at Cambridge Design Partnership commented, “We see the emerging economies significantly increasing demand for the ever widening range of generic drugs. As the capital markets follow this structural change in the pharmaceutical industry by changing their investment patterns the drug delivery sector must also adapt to take advantage of this opportunity. We predict exciting innovations in both low and high-end devices over the next decade. Given the clear need for new technologies this report outlines how there is a good opportunity for manufactures to create valuable intellectual property and new dominant positions”.

Matt Schuman, Senior Partner at Cambridge Design Partnership added, “Our intimate understanding of the emerging markets makes us ideally positioned to help the drug delivery industry rise to this challenge. We expect an opportunity in the generics market to centre around patient-purchased drugs where new consumer groups will be looking for value for money. We should learn from the FMCG industry and create differentiation and gain competitive advantage through innovations in branding, usability and shelf appeal.”

The report also analyses opportunities in the mature healthcare markets. Tom Oakley again, “Our Judge Business School colleagues concluded mature markets over the next 10 years will be driven by the necessity to reduce healthcare costs and improve outcomes. At first sight this sounds like a contradiction, but these market changes provide opportunities for innovation and we can see several exciting new approaches. We think in the future patients are going to be much more involved in their own treatments to reduce costs and smart drug delivery technologies are part of what is going to enable this change safely. As device developers we are going to have to think of new ways to increase the performance and safety of therapies at lower cost. We expect healthcare systems increasingly to make drug choices based on calculations of the total cost of a patient’s disease, and devices that can contribute to reducing overall costs could have significant commercial value. This means looking at system level solutions integrating drug delivery, diagnostics and health informatics in new patient-centred systems.”

A former Director of a top pharmaceutical devices company said, “If more thorough reports like this were conducted prior to device development many businesses would benefit by reducing the number of developments that reach phase two before being dropped. I would highly recommend paying attention to Cambridge Design Partnership’s findings.”

The report entitled ‘The Future of Drug Delivery Devices’ is available to leading manufacturers in the drug delivery industry and other interested parties. To request a copy please contact Tom Oakley at Cambridge Design Partnership on +44 (0)1223 264428 or by e-mail at tao@cambridge-design.co.uk

*Shahani, Shalini. Advanced Drug Delivery Systems: New Developments, New Technologies. Wellesley, MA, USA : BCC Research, August 2009. PHM006G

Innovative design and technology consultancy Cambridge Design Partnership announces a new food system concept designed specifically for the ageing consumer. Named ‘Naturally’, it supplies, cooks and serves individual meals from fresh ingredients while simplifying the physical challenges of food preparation and shopping. ‘Naturally’ demonstrates Cambridge Design Partnership’s ability to use holistic innovation and design to address some of society’s biggest challenges.

The Daily Telegraph recently reported that shockingly 1 in 10 elderly people in Britain are at risk of malnutrition. By 2033 it is estimated nearly a quarter of the British population (23 per cent) will be aged over 65 meaning the number of older people suffering from malnutrition is set to rise even further. Public service funding is already overstretched and ill-prepared to meet the challenge of the rising senior population. However Age UK report that the over 65s in the UK spend over £100billion on goods and services each year, with a significant proportion spent to enhance the quality of life. Good nutrition is a basic need which is important for both physical and emotional wellbeing as well as maintaining independence.

Reacting to these pressing human and social needs, Cambridge Design Partnership were inspired to put their design skills to the test. Their innovation process led to the development of a novel concept including a packaging system for fresh ingredients and a counter top appliance to automatically prepare a fresh meal. This can potentially deliver healthy, fresh and nutritional meals ranging from stews to soups and fruit smoothies. A key feature of the solution is to bring back traditional cooking from raw ingredients rather than simply reheating factory prepared food to give consumers the quality meals they want. Ben Strutt, Cambridge Design Partnership’s Head of Industrial Design reflects ‘this demonstrates our ability to address the need for the older generation to become less reliant on care systems and experience the satisfaction of preparing a meal from fresh by themselves, while removing some of the dexterity and logistics challenges. This will reconnect them to the sensory experience of cooking and eating’.

The patented ‘Naturally’ system starts with a novel bowl like packaging system for the raw ingredients which facilitates a supply chain through commercial food manufacturers and retailers, making a wide range of recipes available to consumers. It also allows families or charities to get involved in creating and supplying recipes and ingredients within their local communities. The second element is a small, low cost cooking appliance designed to be easy and safe to use.

To use the system the customer simply chooses the meal they want and adds tap water to the pre-prepared bowl of ingredients, places it into the unit and presses down the plunger to start the cooking cycle. The smart packaging technology ensures the machine automatically cooks and prepares the meal while indicating the time remaining on an easy to read display. The cooking bowl becomes the serving dish and the meal can be consumed immediately. Recipes provide balanced nutrition and hydration, while delivering the great taste of freshly cooked food, if necessary in a format that is particularly easy to eat and digest.

“Cooking is an important part of life,” comments Mike Cane, Director of the product innovation company Cambridge Design Partnership. “When we spoke to older consumers it was clear that an important part of wellbeing is looking forward to meal times and being in control and physically involved in what you eat. However, as mobility and energy levels decrease it becomes an increasing challenge and when poor health adds to the situation people can simply go without proper food at a time when they need good nutrition the most.”

“Neither microwaveable nor frozen dinners can replace the ritual and experience of cooking from fresh ingredients, nor the nutritional value,” added Robert Curtis, the designer responsible for the system. “Research has shown that for elderly consumers the sensory experience of cooking from fresh ingredients contributes to working up an appetite, which can naturally reduce with age and eventually contributes to the risk of malnutrition. This is why we worked hard on the whole product experience with ‘Naturally’.”

“We focus on designing solutions that meet people’s needs and deliver real improvements in quality of life. Given the enormous and growing value of the over 65s market, and the trend towards convenient yet healthy foods, a product like this represents an exciting commercial opportunity.”

‘Naturally’ is just one product from Cambridge Design Partnership’s portfolio and could be easily adapted to other demographic groups interested in convenient, fast, quality nutrition, including mothers and babies, single people and students.

Cambridge Design Partnership is interested in speaking with potential commercial partners for the patented ‘Naturally’ appliance and smart packaging system.

Cambridge Design Partnership announces that it has reused elements of its own Lightweight Oxygen Concentrator, as well as various other technologies developed in-house, to contribute to a specialist vehicle capable of travelling 1,325 miles on a single gallon of diesel for this year’s Mileage Marathon Challenge. The small proof-of-concept car was driven by an eleven year old Cambridgeshire girl in partnership with a local school.

The annual Mileage Marathon Challenge, which took place today at Mallory Park motor track near Leicester, is intended to promote engineering and technology to school and college students, as well as eco-friendly vehicle concepts.

As BBC TV reported earlier this year, Cambridge Design Partnership designed an oxygen-generator system to deliver oxygen to injured frontline soldiers. This system, powered by an innovative micro-diesel-engine, removed the need to take heavy and potentially explosive oxygen canisters onto the battlefield. This project involved Cambridge Design Partnership’s evaluation of a variety of miniature engines, one of which was selected to power this remarkable vehicle.

The vehicle was originally designed by engineering students at Cambridge University as part of their guided design module. As well as layout and simulation, they constructed the lightweight space-frame and tested the aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. The vehicle also features low friction tyres to increase mileage, and was tracked using Cambridge Design Partnership’s ‘Go’ real-time tracking service. The Go technology allows live tracking to be integrated into products and services easier than ever before, and has previously been used to track the Tour of Britain cycle race and promotional vehicles for a novel marketing campaign around Paris. In this case, the live telemetry provided by Go allowed the team to optimise the race strategy for the eco-car, adding an impressive 150mpg to the specialist vehicle. It also made it more interesting for supporters, allowing them to see the live speed and location of the car using their Smartphone from wherever they happened to be.

The vehicle was driven by local schoolgirl Kitty Foster, 11, of Kings School, Ely. CDP extends its congratulations to Kitty and King’s School for such an impressive achievement.

“When I told my parents how far this car could go on a gallon of fuel they were absolutely amazed!” Kitty commented. “Actually, it wasn’t too hard. The Go system helped me use as little fuel as possible. It monitored the car’s performance which helped us know when to stop the engine and start coasting. The GPS information made a big difference and added 150 mpg. The whole car was great fun to drive. It’s good to see cars getting more environmentally friendly, and I’m really pleased we’ve done so well in the challenge’.

“This is about more than just an ultra-eco-friendly car,” commented Stephen Lamb, the MoD project leader from CDP. “This supports what our technologies can achieve. We quickly realized that our R&D work for the MoD, creating an Oxygen generator, was highly applicable to the Mileage Marathon Challenge. Both required an extremely efficient system that used very low power and could run off diesel. Now I just need to figure out how to make my own car get the same kind of mileage!”

This project underlines the potential of the oxygen generator as a product for military and humanitarian applications. Where electricity is not readily available, for example on the battlefield, diesel can be a highly convenient form of power. The Oxygen generator is another example of how Cambridge Design Partnership focus on developing new products that use technology to meet genuine human needs.

Cambridge Design Partnership is available to apply its innovative research, design and development talents in a range of specialist fields, including consumer, healthcare, military, industrial and cleantech.