Life-saving CPR tool wins 2025 Design Innovation in Plastics award

Iranpolymer/Baspar The winners of the 2025 edition of the Design Innovation in Plastics (DIP) have been announced.

The DIP is the longest running competition of its kind for university students in Europe.  It is headline sponsored by Covestro, The Worshipful Company of Horners, The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) and supported by leading organisations in the fields of product design and injection moulding.

This year undergraduate students across the UK and Ireland were asked to design a product for health and wellbeing to support self-care.

Harry Wragg, a third-year product design student from De Montfort University, won first place for a new device for helping people perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  CPR+Aid gives audible feedback immediately pressure is applied, to guide people through the vital life-saving skill, ensuring they are using the right amount of pressure.

Wragg created the CPR+Aid using high density polyethylene (HDPE) for easy recyclability, strength, flexibility and toughness. The device, which does not use electronics, can be recycled many times before it loses its desired properties.

“My research had shown a lack of first aid training and lack of defibrillator availability, so I wanted to find something that would give people the confidence to help save a life,” Wragg said.

“I’ve proved to myself that I’m capable of producing a professional design that can change lives and have an impact on society.  This competition has opened a door into a public sector of product design, demonstrating the possibilities and links to future opportunities,” he added.

Wragg presented three different sizes of device, all colour-coded to identify the specific individuals it should be used on. The simple but brilliant nature of CPR+Aid makes it a low-cost solution that could potentially form part of a first aid kit.

“We were very impressed with the simplicity of the product, the thought which had been given to material selection and how it would be manufactured, including being upscaled to meet demand,” said chairman of judges, Richard Brown, said. “We believe it is a product that challenges the current CPR approach and save lives.”

In addition to his GBP 1000 cash prize, Wragg won a placement with a DIP sponsor, a year’s membership to IOM3, and an invitation to the Worshipful Company of Horners’ annual banquet.

The judges awarded second place to Krzysztof Boroniec, a product design student from Technological University Dublin, for his product Nibbliee, a chewing device which helps exercise chewing and jaw muscles and translates into a signal, enabling activity in digital games. It was created using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) for the biting tray and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) for a structural component, utlilising both flexibility of EVA and durability of PETG, both also being biocompatible and recyclable.

Abbie Williams from Nottingham Trent University, took third place with FlexiKnee Pro, a knee strengthening brace which uses resistance bands to help strengthen the joint and offset osteoarthritis.  The design is injection moulded using recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to lower the environmental impact, with polypropylene clips for low cost and efficient manufacturing.

Highly commended awards went to:

• Romaine Crawford, Loughborough University, with Serenity a support device to help people relax and improve their mental health.  It uses aromatherapy and light therapy to change an individual’s mind, mood and energy. Polypropylene (PP), PET and TPR were used in the creation of the product.
• Henry Follett, Brunel University, with CrosStick, which works as a normal walking stick, but when the user needs to stand up, it will expand and fold out to give two points of contact with the ground, offering more stability when standing. The main body of the product is made from carbon fibre-reinforced CFRP, while contact points use polyether ether ketone (PEEK) with a TPU overlay.
• Michael MH Leung, Brunel University, with UE:1 Seat, an ergonomic rocking seat which serves as both a support system and a muscle activator, helping to ease movement and enhance comfort.  It is designed to help people rehabilitating from back pain.  Polypropylene is used in its construction.

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