the Product Innovation Team - Supporting UK manufacturing

Welcome to the MTC’s Product Innovation hub, a place where you can find knowledge, experience and understanding of your requirements, following best practice; practical support and tangible outputs with our guidance, in a de-risked environment for UK manufacturing and product innovation.

We work collaboratively with companies and individuals to evaluate ideas, determine the feasibility and support the journey to develop the concept into a manufacturable product.

Once engaged with our team, we provide access to the MTC's world-class advanced manufacturing and research facilities, as well as its team of engineering and manufacturing experts.

How it works:

1. Fill out our application form
   
2. We'll let you know we've received it safely
   
3. Our expert team will personally review each application
   
4. We'll contact you within 72 hours to discuss next steps

Did you know?

An average cost and time to create a product is c£250k+ and can go as high as £10mn in some instances, with around c3 years development time, depending on the complexity; design; prototyping; functionality; testing; manufacturing stages – not forgetting the tooling costs – often left out of the equation.

• A software product can cost anywhere from £10,000 to £500,000 depending on the complexity, features, and quality of the product. The average time to develop a software product is 4 to 9 months, but it can vary depending on the scope, team size, and methodology of the project.
  
  
• A hardware product can cost anywhere from £50,000 to £10 million depending on the type, size, and functionality of the product. The average time to develop a hardware product is 18 to 24 months, but it can vary depending on the design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing stages of the product.
  
  
• A physical product can cost anywhere from £5,000 to £100,000 depending on the material, design, and production of the product. The average time to develop a physical product is 6 to 12 months, but it can vary depending on the research, development, and launch phases of the product.

Getting a new idea or product to market is not easy, our team has the experience and expertise to help you get to where you want to go.

 

 

According to data from the McKinsey Global Institute, for every 7 product ideas, only 1.5 launch, and only 1 succeeds. Of course, not every idea will yield a successful product. That is why effective brainstorming is so critical — you need to come up with a variety of ideas and approaches to the same consumer problem in order to up your chances of finding that golden idea that could actually turn into a viable, profitable product.

 

Not all product ideas are good enough to make it to the development stage, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Before you move to the development stage of things, you need to make sure that the idea is profitable. How can you do that? Well, you will need to rigorously validate your product.

 

You may have heard that 80 percent of all new products fail. Well, put simply, that is an exaggeration. It is difficult to pinpoint a precise, across-the-board product fail rate, but the McKinsey Global Institute puts the number somewhere between 25 percent and 45 percent. The rate does tend to vary by industry. While the rate is lowest in the capital goods industry (35%), it is highest in the consumer goods category (45%).

The MTC can help turn you product idea into a reality utilising our vast cross sector knowledge and experience. Get in touch today to start your journey.

 

ENGAGING WITH US COULDN'T BE EASIER 

There are a number of ways to engage with us or for you to speak to a subject matter expert. Choose the best way for you.

1) Start your application now, using the form below

2) Email us: smesupport@the-mtc.org

3) Telephone us: +44 (0)2476 701600

Please note:

As part of eligibility scoring criteria we will undertake the necessary soft search credit check on your company.

If your company is an SME we may be able to offer you Reach Match funding:

• • To be eligible for Reach Match support an SME (or start-up) must;
  • Have fewer than 250 (full time equivalent) employees
  • Have a turnover ≤ £38 m
  • Not be more than 25% owned or controlled by an non-SME
  • Confirm they have received ≤ £315k state aid support over a rolling 3 year period