Since autumn term 2018 Blackwood Innovation team have been actively working with third- and fourth-year students from the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Edinburgh Napier University. The students are tasked to work in teams to create and design a product that promotes digital technology and a roadmap for that product over the next ten years.

We challenged the students to think about technology products that would aid people who live in Blackwood homes. To help them we gave them working demonstrations of CleverCogs and a tour of the Blackwood House at Longstone Rehabilitation Centre.

Project Manager Graeme Hamilton and Head of Innovation Colin Foskett have been lending their wealth of experience to the students visiting throughout the academic year, offering constructive feedback on their emerging products.

At the beginning of April 2019, coinciding with the week when their design had to be submitted as part of their university assessment, two Blackwood tenants, Ross and Maggie joined and took part in a dragon’s den style pitch made by each of the four groups of students.

The products presented included:

• A wireless charged tablet holder that would fit on a wheelchair
• An in-house health monitoring system based on internet of things sensors
• A hands-free toothbrush that cleans both palates at the same time
• A smart sensor watch that looks like a watch

The students all plan to submit their designs to the 2019 Bespoken Design Awards and we wish them good luck in their first competitive application.

It was great to see such creativity, social awareness, forward thinking and real solutions from the designers of tomorrow!