Consumer Products Blog
CES is coming once again…
By Duncan Smith - Last updated: Thursday, December 29, 2011CES is less than two weeks away, and we’re expecting a strong emphasis on Health and Wellness this year. There’s a new and larger Digital Health Pavilion, where we will be exhibiting at booth 3031 in North Hall. (By the way that last link is worth clicking for the quite satisfying animation!). Also we’ll be taking ...
Raising Standards – Do we need a new rating system?
By Roger Mainwaring-Burton - Last updated: Monday, September 5, 2011Energy labelling has change the way that consumers shop. From its first introduction in the early 1990s to its most recent manifestation (since the original draft in 1992, EU legislation has been updated 12 times), it has concentrated on one thing – Energy. Consumers have developed an understanding of the ways that energy equates to ...
The eco-vacs are coming
By Edd Brunner - Last updated: Monday, September 5, 2011Roger and I headed to IFA on Friday to share the latest result of our Ecovation process, Stem – our concept for reducing the impact vacuums have on the environment by 27% and reducing the energy used by 43%. We had some really good meetings with a number of the big manufacturers, so it was a ...
Will smart appliances and eco-innovation triumph as energy prices soar?
By Rachel Harker - Last updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011Research from Mintel shows that tumble dryer sales in the UK have fallen by 30% in the last five years. Great news for those of us who want consumers to be more environmentally friendly, but I suspect it owes more to booming energy prices in times of austerity than green altruism. Five of the six ...
Consumers showing growing appetite for health and wellness devices
By Rachel Harker - Last updated: Wednesday, July 13, 2011A recent research report from IBM shows consumers are looking for information to help them lead healthier lives, and says that the corresponding market for devices that do this is relatively untapped. This trend explains why a slew of consumer product companies are looking to launch ‘health and wellness’ devices in the near future. As ...
Google Health and PowerMeter are closing – 5 reasons this may not be a coincidence
By Duncan Smith - Last updated: Monday, June 27, 2011Last friday Google announced that it is withdrawing two of its services – Google Health and Google PowerMeter. It’s no coincidence that these two have been announced at the same time….
From Caffè Culture 2011
By Andrew Gow - Last updated: Monday, May 23, 2011Yesterday Edd and myself visited the Caffe Culture show in London. It’s the largest coffee show in the UK and has a good variety of stands in everything from roasting equipment and espresso machines through to small foods suppliers and ancillary support companies. It’s good to see coffee machine innovation continuing. In the espresso machines ...
FEI Boston Day 2 – Fail fast, but not too fast, for innovation
By Duncan Smith - Last updated: Tuesday, May 17, 2011Day 2 of FEI in Boston and I went to a really interesting session involving Syl Saller of Diageo and Dr. Charles Camarda of NASA. Not an obvious combination – as Sal pointed out spaceships and alcohol don’t usually mix. There was a lot of common ground, however. Partly why I lked it was that ...
Front End of Innovation, Boston day 1
By Duncan Smith - Last updated: Tuesday, May 17, 2011Here in Boston, the first day of Front End of Innovation was an interesting mix of case studies, practical advice and book plugging. Much of the early session discussion was centred on how Social Media can help drive the innovation process. Dawn Lacallade of ComBlu told interesting stories from her time at Dell, and had wise ...
Shouldn’t eco-credentials be taken for granted?
By Edd Brunner - Last updated: Thursday, April 7, 2011This week Rachel, Ruth and I continued to spread the good word according to Kevin (pictured above!) – the Cambridge Consultants process for developing breakthrough technologies and innovations that significantly reduce the impact products have on the environment. The latest workshop was part of the Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Leadership’s Master of Studies course. CPSL ...
