Innovation Marketplace 3 - The Final

The third instalment of the innovation marketplace came to a close in the Netherlands in December. Across an eight-week period, students from across the A4SEE network completed a design challenge set by one of our industrial partners, Magura. In the words of Magura, a world leading company in the design and production of bicycle and motorcycle braking systems….

“Somersaults are for the circus – not the streets”

A4SEE staff explaining why somersaults are for pink elephants on bicycles in the circus only….

Magura have built a strong reputation for the creation of brakes that allow a user to stop in a safe and controlled manner in all conditions. In recent years there has been a revival in the Cargo bike, this is becoming an increasingly common sight on our roads, as a versatile item of transportation capable of carrying mixed and often heavy loads. Cargo bikes do have some peculiarities in both steering and braking which change with load and can be challenging for even the experienced regular cyclist. To stop quickly and safely under loaded conditions cargo bikes need to be fitted with powerful brakes. Application of these powerful brakes in an unloaded condition can result in locking of the front wheel, skidding, and in a worst case a crash. Magura challenged our students to develop a braking solution for a “Long John” front cargo style bicycle, that would ensure breaking could be accomplished safely under all conditions.

At the very start of the challenge our students visited the Magura headquarters in Bad Urach, Germany, for a kick off workshop and to experience the problem firsthand. The students were able to test ride cargo bikes both unloaded and loaded in extremely wet conditions, and visited the manufacturing facilities to understand the combination of intricate parts that make up the Magura braking system.

Testing cargo bikes in the wet at Magura, Bad Urach, Germany

Having returned to their home universities the teams worked on possible solutions, using a double diamond framework to guide their thinking and solution development. Over the eight weeks that followed the students were supported in weekly design workshops, led by Sheffield Hallam and TU Delft staff, and had valuable opportunity to gain feedback and guidance from both academics, and Magura representatives.

Demonstrating concept prototypes at the A4SEE innovation exhibition at TU Delft

The teams were eventually brought back together to present their final solutions to both the company and a wider audience at the official A4SEE closing event that was held on the 11th and 12th December. Teams took part in a wider innovation exhibition, where they were able to reveal their solutions and demonstrate simple working prototypes that had been developed. This was then followed by a presentation to a judging panel of Magura staff and our academics, in front of an invited A4SEE and wider public audience. The students were only given eight minutes to pitch their concepts and to convince the judges under questioning that they had the best possible solution.

Presenting concepts to the judging panel

The teams produced a range of solutions, and demonstrated these effectively during the exhibition. After the pitch, and much deliberation by the judges the winning team in this instalment of the Innovation Marketplace was declared TU Delft. This final breaks the winning streak of ASTUWien, the winners of all previous versions of the event!

Innovation Marketplace participants receive their certificates.