In October 2023, Cambridge LaunchPad Commitee Partners TTP hosted a fantastic Project Day for students from Long Road Sixth Form College.
With the help of TTP professionals, the teams competed to design and pitch a new concept for a fat-grafting surgical tool. With the guidance of TTP staff, the students practiced basic methods of injection before brainstorming ideas that would help with comfort, precision, and reducing fatigue. This was actually a project that TTP once worked on themselves, so this was a genuine real-world example of the work they do.
A plethora of materials were available to use to create prototypes of their concepts which allowed the students to think outside the box and use their imaginations and product design skills. There were some brilliant and interesting designs on offer – from foot-powered syringes to designs that strap to your arm.
Finally, all the teams pitched their ideas to the TTP judges, and we got to see how much work they had put in over the entire day. Great work everyone!
The students were also given a fascinating tour of the TTP offices, labs, and engineering workshops. It was brilliant for them to see the inner workings of a company with so many STEM professions all in one place.
“I enjoyed talking to people who have done STEM subjects for degrees and have careers in STEM. It confirmed that I want to have a career in design and product design.”
Students from Long Road Sixth-Form College
“Our Cambridge LaunchPad project day was great fun to host. A highlight was seeing the students throw themselves into the challenge and make the most of the opportunity; sitting alongside TTP helpers at lunch, asking questions and chatting way. Everyone seemed so engaged and comfortable that, from the outside in, it would have been hard to tell who the students were and who were the employees! This is fantastic as one of the crucial opportunities a Cambridge LaunchPad project day provides is the chance to get out of the classroom and experience a workplace environment.
The quality of the students’ work was truly impressive also. In everyone’s end of the day ‘pitches’, such diverse ideas, designs and thought processes were showcased. Whilst it made it tricky for us to choose a winning team(!), we hope that it highlighted to the students what impressive results can be achieved from working collaboratively on a problem which requires a multi-disciplinary solution.“
Rebecca Bradley, Learning & Diversity Specialist at TTP
“I hope that the students enjoyed the day as much as myself and the other interns did! It’s so rewarding to work with eager individuals and their creativity was refreshing.“
Nicki Ashworth, Mechanical/Computational Engineering student on placement at TTP
“It was great fun working alongside creative and passionate students. I especially enjoyed the broad range of questions they asked before creating their medical device and how well they considered the needs of the surgeons they were creating the device for. I was happy to provide an insight into the path I chose in education, and I hope it inspired some confidence in the students and will be useful in deciding what they would like to do with their future.”
Adam Ebdon, placement at TTP
A huge thank you goes out to all the TTP staff that made the day such a success!
