OUR APPROACH
Thrive’s business model supports the future we believe in, where we improve lives through wearable technology and impact is rated as highly as profit. We work collaboratively across business partnerships and academia, delivering consultancy services, as well as grant-funded and internally funded innovation streams.
Our product development journey is a proven and phased process which de-risks end product delivery for our clients.
CONCEPT AND INNOVATION
In this initial phase of the journey, foundational to the wearable product’s future success, we reinforce the value proposition through user feedback and validation. We use a well-established approach, called a Technology Strategy, to arrive at a qualified product specification, with a robust supply chain feasibility assessment and clearly outlined costings for developing the identified components. This is proven to save you money and reduce time to market.
We also often augment this approach with Hardware Design Sprints, tailored for wearables from the Google Ventures methodology. This allows elements of your product idea to come to life and be tested in real life scenarios, further adding to the validation of your future product. We work through all elements of the proposed product to identify the key risks and unknowns and to test as many assumptions as possible, before embarking on major prototyping and development work.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Design and development of a wearable can range in complexity from standard electronics in a plastic casing, to combinations of soft and hard elements, with moving parts, screens, connectors and sometimes integrated into clothing. In the Design and Development phase, we put together all the elements required to bring a prototype to life, including the physical parts, a connected mobile app, storage and other periphery technologies.
This is where we recommend that you use a Concept Prototype to rapidly demonstrate the validity of your idea, integrate the physical, digital and data aspects of a wearable, engage end users early and drive investment.
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
This is the phase where a demonstrator prototype version of a product is turned into a product. Scaling from a single unit, used for testing and evaluation is a significant investment and the work may require lots of iterations to get it right.
With a decent Concept Prototype of the proposed product, the design will be refreshed to evolve to what is termed an ‘Engineering Validation’ prototype. This will have design files suitable for use on mass production machines and at this point the whole system will have been refined to remove costly or unused parts, to reduce complexity and remove any bugs. Also essential will be the optimisation for long term production, involving selecting components with guaranteed long-term support from the manufacturers. Read more about our Production Management service, bespoke to your product proposition.
WHY WORK WITH US
We work with mission-aligned organisations to develop impactful, user centred wearable technology that improves lives.
See some examples of our work here.
EXPERIENCED MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM
We are a specialist team of engineers, designers, technology experts and customer-focused innovators. Tap into our 30+ years of experience in the Wearable Technology space.
GETTING YOUR PRODUCT TO MARKET FASTER
We combine rigorous user testing and engineering refinement to get your product to market faster.
RESEARCH
We find the best technology solutions for you to source the optimum mix of physical, digital and data elements.
SHARED DESTINY PROGRAMME
Our Shared Destiny Programme for mission aligned companies, gives access to our team and IP.
It is a cost effective and highly impactful way of building a long term trusted relationship with Thrive.
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