From an innovative new tampon to the world’s first 3D printed bionic arm, UK companies are serial winners at the Design Intelligence Awards (DIA) – yet another reason to enter the awards before applications close on July 9, writes Robynne Tindall
In 2020, UK applicants to the DIA were awarded more funding than Japan, India and Germany combined. UK innovators topped the international league tables outside China, with 18 finalists – and 20% of UK applicants – selected as finalists from a field of 7,000 applications.
Read on to find out more about two previous award winners that showcase the broad spectrum of design and innovation that has the potential to succeed in the DIA (and scroll down for how to enter).
Hero Arm, 2019 Gold Award (£115k)
Created by Open Bionics, Hero Arm is the world’s first 3D-printed bionic hand that offers market-leading functionality at a fraction of the cost of its nearest competitor.
There are about 5 million amputees in the world. Current upper limb prostheses exist as hooks, grippers or expensive bionic hands, and Hero Arm is on a mission to make beautiful bionic limbs more accessible. Hero Arm is the first medical-certified 3D printing bionic hand in the world, and compared with traditional prostheses, it can assemble and print quickly to achieve perfect fitness.
This combination of engineering and design took Hero Arm to the top of the DIA. Talking about the awards, co-founder and COO, Samantha Payne, said: “There was a great mix of competitors – from Adidas with a huge consumer product, to more niche products, and we wanted to be seen in good company. We were the only company to receive unanimous ‘yes’s from the judges. The standard of judges was exceptional and tested our mettle, demanding we know our consumer inside out, and that our design approach needed to achieve the highest standard.”
Entering the DIA gave Open Bionics the opportunity to fully understand how much they needed to invest in China and the importance of intermediaries in dealing with clinical distributors. The funding enabled them to invest more into R&D that accelerated their development and took their design thinking one step further.
Finally, they also recommend bringing a product user or advocate to the awards pitch, as seeing the tech in action makes it more meaningful, especially with a life-changing product like a bionic limb.
Finally, they also recommend bringing a product user or advocate to the awards pitch, as seeing the tech in action makes it more meaningful, especially with a life-changing product like a bionic limb.
Tampliner, 2020 Silver Award (£25k)
The Tampliner was invented and patented by Callaly. It is the first significant tampon innovation in 80 years, and was described by The Independent as “revolutionising the multi-billion-pound feminine care industry.”
Dr Alex Hooi, one of Callaly’s co-founders, has over 30 years of experience as a gynaecologist and has heard the frustrations of thousands of women when it came to the choice of products on offer. As co-founder and CEO Thang Vo-Ta said, “Many products on the market were either uncomfortable, inconvenient, or prone to leaks. As a result, 70% of women in the UK were wearing tampons with liners for added protection.”
Callaly spent a decade developing its product, and acquired patent families across 85% of the global market before soft-launching in 2018 to sell out in their first run. Since Tampliner’s launch in 2020, Callaly has sold more than a million units in the UK alone, and nearly half of customers reported that they would use a Tampliner again.
China is an important market for Callaly, and the DIA awards helped them to tap into that. In China, tampons are the fastest-growing period product category according to Euromonitor. Callaly has completed successful product trials with hundreds of women in Shanghai and Beijing, and “64% of women who have never used a tampon before said they would definitely buy Tampliner once available in China, so this market presents a massive growth opportunity for us,” Thang said.
Receiving a silver award in the DIA has boosted Callaly and Tampliner’s reputation and recognition, and they have since gone on to wine Time Magazine Best Inventions of 2020 and Fast Company’s Ten Most Innovative Companies 2021 to boot.
Visit this link to apply for the Design Intelligence Awards — the entry deadline for UK applicants is 9 July
