Yigoo Interviews IDC's MD, Stephen Knowles

Chinese media company, Yigoo, interviewed IDC's MD, Stephen Knowles, recently for information about the different approaches to design and development in the UK and China, while gleaning information about the future of medical design. Here's what he said.

What sectors does IDC design products for?

IDC has been developing products for 45 years. In the early days, we focused on consumer and electronic goods. We also gained a reputation for high-tech industrial, scientific and transport developments. Over the last 25 years we have excelled in the medical field and have designed many award-winning medical products. While medical products are a big part of our design portfolio in the UK, it is an even bigger focus for our office in Shanghai, where the Chinese medical market is growing rapidly.

What are the core competencies of IDC over the last 45 years?

The creative talent of our team is a key strength of IDC which leads to us developing innovative and successful products for the user. When we recruit our staff, we place high importance on ability and the skills which are crucial to IDC. From research, to design and engineering, right through to regulatory compliance and manufacturing, our team have the experience to develop products for clients with the reassurance that their products will go on to be commercially successful. We are also completely committed to best practice design and development with ISO 9001 and 13485 certification throughout the organisation.

In IDC’s design and development work, which factors do clients consider most important?

It’s difficult to say which areas are considered most important, as most clients value all aspects of the development. At IDC we have developed a unique design process, which means that all stages of the design process are addressed fully to ensure the best possible result.

A good product should have at least these qualities: it is loved by the users of the product; it serves its purpose to best effect; its manufacturing costs are controllable, high quality; and ideally IP should be generated.

In China, people pay more attention to appearance, while globally this trend has been changing in recent years. Chinese companies are becoming much more aware about patents and are wanting to develop their own solutions. More recently still, these companies are embracing user research as an essential part of the design process and understanding the importance of users loving the product.

When a company approaches IDC, do they normally come with a clear idea or does IDC need to start from scratch?

We need to clearly understand what the product strategies of companies are and the goals of their product. Their ultimate objective is commercial success and only good design can lead to this.

In China, the market is not limited to local companies anymore but there is now increasing competition from international companies. This means that Chinese companies need to have a clear product strategy to ensure their product will meet users requirements. After setting a clear strategy, we often advise about outside investment if this is important to the development. We also look at regulatory requirements in the early phase of a project and produce a feasibility report.

Out of all the projects that IDC works on, which type is dominant – developing next generation products or new product innovation?

The situation is different in China and UK.

In the UK, we tend to work more on new product developments, although we support clients at any stage of the development. We work with a range of different sized organisations, from new start-ups to multinational giants.

In China, we normally work with mature companies; both domestic and international. Companies often come to us wanting to improve their market position, either by developing a new product, or by developing a new generation product. We focus on user and market research to really understand the needs of the market – this is still a relatively new approach in China.

Is it true that regulation is the hardest part of the whole design process?

In the medical industry, it’s crucial to meet the standard. So it’s important that the whole product development follows a structured process where we can assess risks and keep documented records of the design and testing process. We have ISO 9001 and ISO13485 quality standards throughout the company, both in the UK and China, and also in our prototyping unit, IDC Models, so we can ensure our process meets the required standard for medical companies.

What are the IP considerations in the UK and China?

Whether developing a product in the UK or China, each development needs to assess existing patents to avoid any potential infringement. In all our projects, patents vary from within 10 to hundreds and all need to be analysed.

Clients must have a clear strategy about which markets they wish to launch their product into around the world, since each country has its own patent registration procedure.

In China, companies have a more complicated patent requirement. There are three types of patents: invention, utility model and design. Invention is the most difficult one to go around and is concerned with technical solutions - it is normally granted within 3-5 years and ensures protection for 20 years. Utility models are a lesser form of the invention patent, so may be given to products with a lower degree of invention; perhaps for a new shape or physical appearance. They are popular in China as they are quick to get and cheap, though the protection only lasts for 10 years. In a similar way, design patents are granted for external product features such as shape, pattern or colour.

Patent application potentially requires high investment based on each different country and system. So to know whether there is potential business benefit is quite important. If a client has a strategy to go worldwide, we would need to research and analyse patents in all the parts of the world.

What do you think the future of medical device development holds?

‘Connected devices’ are important to deliver clinical value. They could help support the strained healthcare system, especially for the management of chronic diseases; offering both the tools to manage and monitor diseases. In addition, by applying artificial intelligence, they can help patients become more independent without frequent trips to hospital, and deliver better monitoring.

This trend has big potential, as well as challenges, to healthcare systems. And it will even change the design thinking of medical devices, because factors like environments, users, regulations and psychology will change.

The other trend is ‘high-end technology’ using computer software and robotic equipment to develop new surgical systems and recovery processes.