Last week I was back at my old college, Loughborough University, working with the students of the Healthcare Engineering module of the Product Design Engineering degrees. I was present as a ‘dragon’ investor to review the output of the students with six different healthcare design challenges. My fellow judges included serial entrepreneurs, academics and manufacturing experts.
The design challenges varied from the design of a transportation system for human kidneys to systems for therapeutic hypothermia and improved dry powder inhaler designs. The important aspect of the module was that the students had to develop a business case and commercial strategy for their products. A clever idea wasn’t enough – they had to understand where it would sit in the market place and how their design decisions would impact the economics of the product.
This is a really vital part of mechanical design that is often over-looked. After all; if you can’t make a profit with your product or service- you don’t have a business: you just have a very expensive hobby.
I was hugely impressed – not only with the standard of work but the fluency of the message that the final year students managed to communicate. I’ve suffered through enough interminable presentations by industry professionals and academics that I know how hard it is to communicate a complex message with clarity and brevity.
The climax of the presentations were prizes for the best presentation and the best and most complete technical project work. I was also present to award Amazon vouchers to each of the students who developed the ‘most investable idea’. The idea chosen was a stroke rehabilitation system- called ‘Mi Bands’. I was impressed that the students had taken time to speak to a lot of end users and find a solution that would fit into their lifestyle – integrating modern smart technology with wearable tech.
I’m passionate about education and building links with schools and universities. I’m on the board of governors at a specialist technology school and both my senior engineers and I are working closely with universities to explain what a professional engineer’s career looks like.
There are a lot of people out there trying to grab good engineers and there are many tempting offers coming in from financial companies and banks. Engaging with students early enough to fire their imagination for a career in healthcare engineering has never been more relevant and waiting until they graduate can be too late.
The winners
we thought we’d ask him about his experiences over the last 13 months being a design intern at Team.
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