De Montfort University student wins with life-saving device

 

After a nail-biting wait for the results by our super six finalists, we were delighted to announce the 2025 results at our award ceremony in London on Friday (June 20), held at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.  The top prize went to a student from De Montfort University with a simple but brilliant device which could save lives.

 

Harry Wragg was awarded the DIP trophy for his product CPR+Aid, a new device for helping people to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  He was answering this year’s brief of Health and Wellbeing – a product for the self-care agenda.

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Chairman of DIP, Martin Sixsmith; chief executive of IOM3, Dr Colin Church, Romaine Crawford, Krzystzof Boroniec, Abbie Williams, winner, Harry Wragg; Henry Follett, Michael MH Leung, Rebecca Joyce, Covestro UK managing director, Steve Gormley.

 

CPR+Aid gives audible feedback immediately pressure is applied, to guide people through the vital life-saving skill, ensuring they are applying the right amount of pressure. Harry presented three different sizes of device, all colour-coded to identify the specific individuals it should be used on.  The simple but ingenious nature of CPR+Aid, which works without the need for electronics, makes it a low-cost solution that could potentially form part of a first aid kit.  It is made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) for easy recyclability, strength, flexibility and toughness. 

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Our delighted winner said “My research had shown a lack of first aid training and lack of defibrillator availability, so I wanted to find something that would give people the confidence to help save a life.

 

“I’ve proved to myself that I’m capable of producing a professional design that can change lives and have an impact on society.  This competition has opened a door into a public sector of product design, demonstrating the possibilities and links to future opportunities.”

 

Chairman of judges, Richard Brown, said: “We were very impressed with the simplicity of the product, the thought which had been given to material selection and how it would be manufactured, including being upscaled to meet demand.  We believe it is a product that challenges the current CPR approach and could save lives.”

 

Commenting on this year’s finalists, he added: “The standard was so high that there were very fine margins between the final positions, and we would suggest that a number of products are good enough to be commercialised.”

 

Harry wins £1,000, a placement with a DIP sponsor, a year’s membership to IOM3 and an invitation to the Worshipful Company of Horners’ annual banquet.

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The judges awarded second place to Krzysztof Boroniec, a product design student from Technological University Dublin, for his product Nibbliee, an ingenious chewing device, which helps exercise chewing and jaw muscles and translates into a signal, enabling activity in digital games. It was created using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) for the biting tray and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) for a structural component, utlilising both flexibility of EVA and durability of PETG, both also being biocompatible and recyclable.  Kris wins £750 and a placement with a DIP sponsor.

 

In third place is Abbie Williams, Nottingham Trent University, with FlexiKnee Pro, a knee strengthening brace which uses resistance bands to help strengthen the joint and offset osteoarthritis.  The design is injection moulded using recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to lower the environmental impact, with polypropylene clips for low cost and efficient manufacturing.  Abbie wins £500 and a placement with a DIP sponsor.