The latest Staffordshire Business Innovation Centre’s (The BIC) networking event was a great success. Focusing on new product development, local businesses including Abacus Healthcare and Cable Detection Ltd, learnt useful tools and processes to effectively deliver new product ideas to market.
Research shows, 8 out of 11 new product ideas don’t reach the development stage so the event highlighted the importance of matching ideas to the needs of the market and utilising new technologies including 3D printing.
Insightful presentations from The BIC, Haughton Design, Arvada Strategic Marketing and 3D Creation Lab highlighted how attendees can successfully exploit new product development ideas. Event organiser Sandra Butterworth noted “it is important to prove there is a market for your idea and after investigating your intellectual property rights you then need to prove that it is feasible to manufacture that product. The event allowed companies to find out how to prove their ideas will work; which organisations can help and how to fund proof of market and concept stage.”
Haughton Design presented successful case studies, highlighting the different technologies available to prove concept design feasibility. Photo realistic images can be created with Haughton’s Design Visualisation service to test market reaction, and even sell the product before it has been manufactured. Alternatively rapid prototyping can be utilised to create real models, allowing the product to be held and played with to test functionality.
David Mills, Haughton Design’s Managing Director, praised the event. “As companies are looking to new product development as an effective growth tool, they need to ensure that there is a strong business case before investment. There is no point in developing a product if no-one will buy it! This event really focused on proving demand before engaging with a company such as ourselves to develop the design. I look forward to seeing how attendees move their projects forward, and wish them the best of luck.”