Kettering student in running for national design prize

DIP is the longest running plastics design competition of its kind for university undergraduates in the UK and Ireland.Supported by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and the Worshipful Company of Horners, it is industry headline sponsored by Covestro, a global supplier of premium polymers.

Answering this year’s brief of ‘Health and Wellbeing – a product for the self-care agenda’, Abbie Williams who lives in Kettering, Northamptonshire, and studies at Nottingham Trent University, brought a prototype of her product to the final judging session.

The students were given time to explain the research and reasoning behind their ideas, the selection of plastics, sustainability and how their product would work, as well as other important considerations such as manufacturing and costs.

Abbie’s product is FlexiKnee Pro, a knee strengthening brace aimed at helping to offset osteoarthritis.

After the tense but fascinating day of presentations and questions, the judges commented on the rising standard of entries, quality of research and the feasibility of the ideas.

Chairman of judges, Richard Brown, said: “All our finalists had improved their products since submitting them for the preliminary judging round in April and receiving feedback from ourselves. It was also evident that the training course they had been given at Sumitomo Demag, as part of their prize, had influenced their thinking, particularly sharpening their focus on selection of plastic materials and method of manufacture.

“They had thought very carefully about the suitability of their products for their end users and as a result we believe a number of their products could have the potential to be commercialised.”

The results will be announced at the DIP award ceremony on Friday, June 20, at IOM3’s headquarters in London. Students are competing for a top prize of £1,000. There are supporting cash prizes for all finalists, and work placements or training courses with leading design and industry sponsors, who include Brightworks, Innovate Design, and PDD.

This year’s six finalists are:

• Krzysztof Boroniec, TU Dublin, with ‘Nibbliee’ a device enabling users to exercise chewing muscles in a fun and entertaining way.
• Romaine Crawford, Loughborough University, with ‘Serenity’ a support device to help people relax and improve their mental health.
• Henry Follett, Brunel University, with ‘CrosStick, an expandable walking stick which provides more stability for users.
• Michael MH Leung, Brunel University, with ‘UE:1 Seat, an ergonomic seat designed to help people rehabilitating from back pain.
• Abbie Williams, Nottingham Trent University, with ‘Proflex, a knee strengthening brace that can help offset osteoarthritis.
• Harry Wragg, De Montfort University, with CPR+Aid, a device which enables people to apply the correct pressure in the right way when performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).