A staff member at the University of Strathclyde has won a Scotland-wide award for her collaborative work with a Glasgow furniture company on a new range of beds for dogs.
Juliette Farrell, a KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) Associate in Strathclyde’s Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management (DMEM), was named winner of the Innovator of the Future category in the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards.
She was nominated for her partnership work with Elite Contract Furniture, which has been in business for nearly 70 years.
The awards, organised annually by Interface, mark the biggest celebration of businesses and academic knowledge exchange in Scotland, showcasing the achievements of collaborative partnerships and individuals alike.
Juliette collaborated with Elite to embed new tools and methodologies into the business, including rebranding and developing an e-commerce site for a new product. This enabled the company to sell online for the first time.
The KTP was adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on new product development before undertaking market research, product design and development. The result was the launch of Poco, a new range of beds for dogs, and the development of a whole online store for the product.
The range of beds and multilayer mattresses was inspired by Elite’s history in traditional mattress manufacturing. Launching the e-commerce site was the largest challenge of the KTP; introducing retail capabilities within a traditionally B2B (business to business) company meant everything from photography, pricing, social media, website and packaging design had to be considered.
The new skills and processes developed throughout the KTP are now being transferred to Elite, with new product development, photography, branding, digitisation and its full website being redesigned to include e-commerce capabilities.
Elite is due to open a stall at Scottish Design Exchange in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries and will be present at this year’s Dog Lover Shows in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Juliette said: “This KTP has been a testament to the company, academic support and associate, pivoting from the original KTP plan when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. There were many new and exciting challenges from branding development, manufacturing planning and creating an ecommerce platform.
“Personally, I have learned so much through the KTP in leading a team, project management and, mostly, in social skills, working with new people in a niche sector.”
Ivan McKee, Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, said: “I would like to congratulate the winners today for showing the ingenuity, industry and creativity that is essential in achieving success.
“Scotland has world-class universities, with businesses looking to draw on that knowledge to develop, test and research new products, processes and services. By bringing the two partners together, we can solve some of our biggest challenges, such as driving recovery from COVID-19, supporting the transition to net zero and delivering inclusive growth.”
Interface Interim Director Laura Goodfellow said: “I am delighted that the appetite for businesses to partner with academics shows no signs of decreasing; if anything, the last two years have brought more ideas to the fore and driven an upturn in the number of companies and organisations Interface has supported.”
Strathclyde had two other finalists in the awards. Dr Simson McCreath, a KTP Associate in Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, was also shortlisted for Innovator of the Future, for his work with manufacturing company Terumo Aortic.
One Ocean Hub, a Strathclyde-led international team of 42 researchers, was a finalist in the Knowledge Exchange Heroes category, for its collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.