NTU Product Design Students & Graduates Exhibit At The Engineering Design Show 2023

A select number NTU product design students and graduates were recently given the opportunity to showcase their design work at The Engineering Design Show (EDS) at The Coventry Building Society Arena on the 11^th – 12^th October 2023. EDS, the UK’s biggest exhibition/show dedicated to mechanical, electronics and embedded design for over a decade, is a show dedicated to design engineers who are looking for direct access to the latest products, services, and innovations available to the sector.

This year, NTU became the first university to exhibit at EDS providing a curation of student work presented by a group of recent undergraduate and postgraduates. EDS provided NTU with the opportunity to showcase and demonstrate a wide range of creative and innovative projects from the next generation of product designers and product design engineers. Our Product Design graduates had the chance to partake in exciting networking opportunities and also showcase their groundbreaking projects, which included work on Wearable Technologies, Interactive Furniture, Educational Robotics, Sports Equipment, Consumer Audio Devices, Virtual Reality Solutions, amongst others.

NTU prides itself on providing both its students and graduates ‘work like experiences and employability opportunities’ and as such EDS provided a fantastic platform to do so. Not only did EDS provide an opportunity to explore hundreds of UK and international suppliers and thousands of the latest products and innovations, but also this year it provided NTU students the opportunity to get meaningful face time with industry experts through attending conference presentations and workshops. In addition, EDS also provides opportunities to gain insights into topical content on the challenges, pain points and opportunities within the engineering sector.

Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh (Professor of Intelligent Engineering Systems) was also invited to present a keynote presentation on “The Engineer” stage on “Design Innovation for Extracting Energy from Flooded Coal Mines for Heating and Cooling”.

NTU were also given the opportunity to bring along fifty-five BSc (Hons) Product Design 2^nd year students to gain “work like experience” by attending EDS’s international exhibition. This subsequently allowed the students to gain exposure with hundreds of design and engineering solution providers. There were countless opportunities at EDS to network with industry and develop new contacts from across the design engineering community.

Karen Winfield, Senior Lecturer in Product Design, who organised NTU’s exhibition at the Engineering Design Show, said: “NTU participation at the Engineering Design Show has helped propel our Product Design graduates in their early careers, providing a platform to engage with industry, making connections and demonstrating how innovation and creativity can shape future markets. Guests that came by our stand were impressed with the diversity and quality of projects from our graduates and left inspired. We are looking forward to next year’s contribution, where we are already planning how we might further demonstrate the talent of our 2024 graduates.

Simon Bonell, Organiser & Sales Director for The Engineering Design Show added: “The Nottingham Trent University stand was one of the standout features of the show this year, they were engaging with both visitors and exhibitors from the moment the doors opened until we closed on the second day and gave our visitors an insight into tomorrow’s design engineers and showcased the excellent work NTU are doing. We are already looking forward to working with them for the 2024 show”.

Speaking about his experience taking part at the Engineering Design Show, Luke Hedley, BSc Product Design Graduate said:

“I found EDS to be really fun, and a great step into industry.
The show gave me lots of great opportunities such as being interviewed, meeting heads of companies and gaining great insights into my product through my survey/speaking to potential customers”.

Product Design Graduate, Drew Sharp also reflected on his experience highlighting that this was “an excellent opportunity to showcase my work, providing many opportunities for industry networking as well as providing the pathways to bring my product to market”.

Another student also reflected on their experience and said: “I think it's great for offering exposure to industry contacts with a more engineering lean. This event gives the opportunity for students with a different focus to gain exposure and engage with professionals about their work more constructively. Overall, I highly enjoyed the event and thank you to everyone who organised it.”

Priten Chauhan, a recent BSc Product Design Graduate and Co-Founder of Mesh Training, also reflected on his experience:

“We were provided with a space on the Nottingham Trent University stand to exhibit our new start-up, Mesh Training Ltd, which had originated following successful sessions we had conducted during our final undergraduate year in Product Design”.

“On the stand we were able to demonstrate to potential clients the bespoke and standardised Gravity Sketch training courses we offer through live demonstrations and allowing visitors to test out the software in our VR headsets. We are extremely grateful for NTU, The School Of Architecture Design & The Built Environment and the Product Design Department for providing us with this opportunity. This has potentially opened several doors that we previously may never have come across. If you'd like to find out more about our services, feel free to email us at info@meshtraining.co.uk or visit https://www.meshtraining.co.uk/“.

Josh Dennis also presented his educational robotics product “NextGen”at the Engineering Design Show and said:

“Initially I wasn’t sure what to expect, being a graduate, on a graduate stand, representing a university at an industry trade show. However, visitors were impressed by what we had produced, with one individual from industry commenting, ‘Oh we do some of that, but nothing like what you have done, that’s much more impressive.’ The show was beneficial for growing contact bases, showing our skills and getting more opinions on our products, as well as representing the university”.

James Dale, Head of Department for Product Design, reflected on the opportunity to exhibit at the Engineering Design Show and said:

“Exhibiting at EDS 2023 is a great opportunity for our students to connect directly into industry, to demonstrate their ideas, creativity and skills, but also to take in the great breadth of opportunities available to them once they graduate.”

“For NTU and EDS this is a win, win situation, companies get to see the latest talent emerging from our courses, while our students get to be inspired by the cutting edge of technological developments across the sector.”

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students, graduates, staff, and organisers who made the Engineering Design Show and the NTU EDS stand a huge success.

For more information

Please visit the https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/ for more information, as well as the student press releases below:

Khadijah Mohammed addresses energy poverty within a rural community inSub-Saharan Africa - Nigeria, through Human Centred Design - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/khadijah-mohammed-addresses-energy-poverty-within-a-rural-community-insub-saharan-africa-nigeria-through-human-centred-design

Graduate Rhianna Smith raises awareness of loneliness in the workplace, designing for the new era of hybrid offices. - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/graduate-rhianna-smith-raises-awareness-of-loneliness-in-the-workplace-designing-for-the-new-era-of-hybrid-offices

This Kettle Could Save the UK £2 Million a Day in Energy Bills - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/this-kettle-could-save-the-uk-2-million-a-day-in-energy-bills

Experience Design in Virtual Reality on Stand D1 - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/experience-design-in-virtual-reality-on-stand-d1-1

Keswick Mountain Rescue - Updated Immediate Care Rucksack - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/keswick-mountain-rescue-updated-immediate-care-rucksack

Introducing Skinease: The Ultimate Solution for Chronic Itching Relief - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/introducing-skinease-the-ultimate-solution-for-chronic-itching-relief

Indoor lead climbing currently cannot be done without a partner; but with the use of Lead Solo, it now can. - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/indoor-lead-climbing-currently-cannot-be-done-without-a-partner-but-with-the-use-of-lead-solo-it-now-can

NextGen Robot for Research, Education and Entertainment - https://www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk/show-news/nextgen-robot-for-research-education-and-entertainment