Shalini Ramlall gains her PhD!

I am delighted to announce that Shalini Ramlall has been awarded her doctorate! Many of you will know that Shalini served as MotionTouch’s IT manager and developed our web marketing strategy. While doing this Shalini was working towards her PhD at the University of Portsmouth. MotionTouch has had a partnership with Portsmouth for many years and three of our employees have studied for doctorates there. We originally began the association with Portsmouth through the DTIs Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). This program aims to transfer knowledge from Universities into British companies and I highly recommend it, MotionTouch has benefitted tremendously. Dr David Sanders has acted as Shalini’s supervisor throughout the process and provided inspirational support.

I am delighted for Shalini. Watching from the sidelines has been a fascinating experience. I have learnt about the dedication needed to achieve a PhD and the determination that you need to get there. Shalini thoroughly deserves her success.

From Buy Buy Baby to Bling Carry Potty has it all

A quick update on MotionTouch’s client My Carry Potty. They are continuing to spread their wings in the nursery sector. My Carry Potty has recently launched in Buy Buy Baby. This is a national chain of baby stores in the USA. They produce very eye catching displays as you can see from the picture. Amanda has also recently supplemented the range with her own book on potty training and also a DVD.

For the “bling” crowd Amanda has produced a crystal encrusted potty- see the very eye catching picture.

Go Amanda!

The importance of building intellectual property

We are often asked about the importance of building intellectual property. In order to build the maximum value into your business it is important to have a clear strategy from the outset. By cataloguing, protecting and marketing your assets properly you can achieve the best company sales price or licensing deals, it is important to be able to demonstrate that you are robustly protected.

MotionTouch work with patent attorneys to achieve this protection, we also assist clients in business planning to assist in forming the best strategy.

This video interview with Christopher Honeyman Brown provides and excellent insight into this area. Amongst others, Christopher advised the founder of Airmiles on protecting and marketing their product. There are further helpful videos on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/motiontouchchannel?feature=mhum

Check out the new MotionTouch Website

MotionTouch have launched our new website in the last few days, it is designed for both new and existing MotionTouch clients.

The information is better structured and we have a lot more photos of the projects that we have completed. Please take a look and enjoy the experience. We are passionate about designing and manufacturing new products and hope that this comes across on the website. All feedback is welcome, we intend to keep improving the site and adding more information for our clients. Please let us know what else you would like to see. http://www.motiontouch.com/

Happy surfing!

Understanding China and the Chinese

MotionTouch has one foot in China.  Traditionally this has been in order to assist MotionTouch clients in sourcing efficient manufacturing, increasingly though we are assisting clients in developing export opportunities to the world’s fastest growing market.  The stats are staggering and well known:  China has 273 cities with 1M+ population (the size of Birmingham!),  China has 100M+ people who are highly affluent (more that the USA), the figures are endless.  Another startling statement is that China is now reportedly LVMHs most important market.  Expensive hand bags to China?  Clients are sometimes confused, in order to make sense of all of this is we all need to spend more time trying to understand the Chinese.

The article in the Guardian this week is useful in this area: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/18/china-european-culture

MotionTouch’s manufacturing sector post budget survey

In last month’s budget the chancellor spoke about the “March of the Maker”, he was clear that he was targeting UK manufacturing as a key driver in a new UK rebalanced economy.  MotionTouch have spent the last few weeks talking to clients and other UK manufacturing companies about the chancellor’s vision.  This has been done both informally and with a formal survey.

Depending on which data you believe the sector is worth about 1.5x GDP compared to financial services, it accounts for many more multiples of jobs.  I have long held the view that financial services sector is much better organised with its PR activity and political clout, manufacturing needs to catch up.  I recently had a conversation with an ex minister for trade who lamented the sectors inability to make a strong case for itself, in our small way we are trying to add to the debate.

Key questions that MotionTouch raised were whether the chancellors expectations for manufacturing were realistic and if he had done enough?  Feedback was split almost evenly on the chancellor’s vision, manufacturers who already export felt more inclined to agree that he is being realistic in his targets.  One the question as to whether the government has done enough feedback was again varied.  Common themes across the sector were about the lack of trade finance support for export business and the failure of the UK to train sufficient engineers and other skilled staff.  These are two structural weaknesses that undermine the UK as a whole.  The first can be solved easily, through government initiative; the second is more about long term educational targets and making manufacturing more attractive to the most talented students.

This brings me on to a personal belief.  Young people in the UK are going to have to start paying for their university education.  I believe that it is in the national interest to subsidise education in key disciplines like engineering and sciences.  Students could be bound to work in the sector for a length of time after graduation, say 5- 10 years, this is how the armed forces secure their talent.  In the next 10 years this would make a significant difference to the sector and go a long way to ensuring its future.

The full results to our survey will be published in the press in the next few weeks.

Innovative Medical Devices at Medtec

MotionTouch had a great trip to Medtec this week.  The show is a showcase for the designers, manufacturers and component suppliers to the medical industry.  The show is an opportunity to meet up with existing and potential MotionTouch clients as well as suppliers and in our case also an ex-colleague Dylan Llewellyn at EuroTec the speaker company.  Everybody involved with MotionTouch will remember Dylan as incredibly bright with an encyclopaedic knowledge of technology.  He loves his new role at Eurotec where they supply speaker to companies like Airbus, Aerospace was always Dylan’s first love.

The show proved that the medical technology sector is booming and British and European companies are doing very well.  The Medical Device Directive and ISO 13485 are very stringent controls for how medical equipment is designed, tested, manufactured and marketed.  There is a justifiable and inevitable overhead in terms of time and resources to meet these standards.  What is clear is that companies who take the system to heart are powering innovation in a way that puts less regulated sectors to shame.  There is, of course, a very big carrot in the medical device arena.  The potential profits are huge.  There were relatively young companies at Medtec who are growing very fast and booking big profits.

One of the most fascinating products on display was a bionic knee for amputees.  The knee responds to electrical impulses in the nervous system and provides for walking and running.  Amazingly the knees are also designed for double amputees and have built in WiFi.  Using WiFi the knees communicate with each other to co-ordinate balance and movement.

A Dutch company, Variass, were also exhibiting a new system for transporting transplant organs.  Instead of transporting them cooled the organs are kept at body temperature.  To keep them alive they are continuously pumped with an oxygenated liquid with similar properties to blood.  They can be kept like this for 24hrs.  The result is healthier organs arriving for transplant and therefore increased success rates.  Paul Keijser, a very modest man, took a lot of time to talk us through the technology and explain the benefits.  It is just one of a number of innovative products from Variass.

Following closely from my visit to IDS in Cologne, it is clear that the healthcare sector is brimming with new product innovation.

Patent Protection

At MotionTouch, we are regularly asked various questions about the many stages of Patent Protection. This video has proved to be very helpful more than often.

MotionTouch Visit to IDS Dental Show

MotionTouch had a fascinating trip to the IDS Cologne dental show last week. MotionTouch have a client in the dental sector and I understood that were exciting new opportunities at the show. However that did not prepare me for the size of the industry and scale of innovation taking place. I am told that the exhibition was 70% the size of Medica. There was a vast array of technology on display and the atmosphere was very positive.

There were 43 British companies exhibiting and interest was brisk. Among the most impressive were Invibio biomaterial solutions and Denfotex ltd. Invibio produce a carbon re-enforced Peek-OPTIMA compound. This raw material can be used to make bone implants. It is light, flexible and behaves more like bone than metallic implants. As a result the tissue around the implant does not wither and deteriorate. Invibio supply the material in raw format suitable for injection molding and other processes. We will be talking to our contacts in the industry to discuss applications for designing implant and other devices.

Denfotex have a fascinating technology which uses an injected light activated liquid to kill infections. They have a raft of testing to prove its success and were marketing it as a solution for tooth infection. However the eventual applications reach much further.

Coming in the in the week that the Chancellor championed British manufacturing it was great to see so many British companies attacking export markets with such vigour. Medical and dental technology is just the sort of area where British companies can add high value and succeed. The level of skills and expertise required to comply with EN ISO 13485 and obtain medical approval is large barrier to entry for many companies in other countries. MotionTouch expect significant UK success in this market.

Selling Your Idea

So, you have just had a eureka moment and you are looking for a company who will buy your idea. Are you looking to make a quick buck? Or do you want to licence your idea?

Before any business will sign a cheque you will need to convince to them that your idea is a sound investment. This can be achieved by creating a professional business presentation which details the following

• What the product is and how it works
• Who the market is
• How big the market is
• Cost of production
• Legal protection

Protection

If your idea has any value to anyone then it is important that you protect your idea. No doubt you would have seen the investors on BBC’s Dragons Den asking the inventor if they have a patent. A patent protects your invention from being copied by another person and will also add value to your idea and business proposal.

Development

It is rare to hear of somebody selling an idea which hasn’t been developed into a prototype or 3D drawings. This is because the 3D computer drawings or prototypes are needed to establish if an idea actually works. Once you have completed the early stages of development you will have something which is of much greater value to an investor.

Identifying Potential Buyers

You need to identify who you are selling your idea to. Make a list of the ideal companies who you want to pitch to and tailor your presentation to them. It is a good idea to be clear about what you are offering but remain flexible with the terms of agreement. It might be unappealing to some companies if you only want to sell the product and are not interested in a licensing agreement. This is when you sell the rights for another company to manufacture your product. This can be for a royalty or one off payment.

Business Plan

The more detail the better. After product design and development you will be able to calculate the cost of production, weight, recyclability and shipping costs, all of which will add weight to your business proposal. You might also find that the development stages of the design brings up more patentable features in your design. After the development stages are completed you have a better chance of licensing your product.

Shoe String Budget

There are development companies who will do the design for free in return for a royalty. This is appealing to someone without any money but it’s good to know that you will have to give a larger percentage at the early stages or a project. This is usually the route for people who want to make a quick buck or get something for nothing.

So remember the more you do now, the more you get later. And.. If it sounds too good to be true… it probably is.

Research

There’s an abundance of information on the internet which will help you prepare a business plan, understand entrepreneurial opportunities, patents, market sizes etc.  The more work you do at the early stages of a project the more likely it is to succeed in the long run. It’s not as simple as selling an idea…. unfortunately.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

http://www.bplans.com/

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/