Product development and scaling without blueprints
I am a specialist product developer with a senior background in R&D, Innovation and Manufacturing. My work as a Business Innovation Advisor focuses on high tech product development and guiding customers’ pathway to commercialisation and scaling their business where no ‘blueprint’ exists.
Sir Paul Callaghan’s mission is a constant motivation for me, I have never worked for a business with a stronger or more impactful “why we exist” statement. R&D is all about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. R&D is hard, but having a structured yet flexible plan and surrounding yourself with good people that all resonate with your “why we exist” statement are strong contributors to success.
I am particularly motivated working with customer-centric, purpose-driven startups that are focused on having a positive impact on the environment or socially. Business leaders who I work with find that adopting a “not afraid to fail” mentality means they can encourage their team that there will be no consequences if their innovation efforts don’t immediately work out. This ethos drives increased innovation. I have worked in diverse industries including; injection moulding, material science, clean-tech, sensor-tech, sport-tech, agritech, health-tech, FMCG and autonomous vehicles to name a few. One of my most exciting projects at Callaghan Innovation was with an AI sport tech business. We helped them refocus their north star and crystallise their commercialisation strategy. As you can guess, no two days are the same in my job.