The Photon UVC Vet, designed by Smallfry for Photon Therapeutics, has won the Technology & Innovation Award at the AHNTI EU Innovation Showcase 2026 for its transformative treatment for corneal infections in animals.

The award was announced at the AHNTI (Animal Health, Nutrition & Technology Innovation) EU 2026 conference in London, where finalists pitched their technologies to an audience of more than 850 senior leaders from across the animal health sector, including investors, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, CDMOs, and strategic partners.

Mark Leddy, CEO of Photon Therapeutics, said:

“Being recognised with the Innovation & Technology Award at AHNTI EU is an incredible honour. The calibre of innovation presented at the showcase was outstanding, and it’s exciting to be part of an organisation working to redefine the future of animal health through science and technology.”

Smallfry’s Impact: Developing the Photon UVC Vet

Photon commissioned Smallfry to help commercialise its Photon UVC technology, which delivers a fast, effective and drug-free treatment for corneal infections with no pain and no contact.

With a focus on creating a cutting-edge and intuitive design, Smallfry transformed the benchtop technology into the compact, professional, and production-ready Photon UVC Vet device.

View the Photon UVC case study >

How confident are you that you know what your customers truly want?

Most organisations believe they have a clear picture, but the reality is often built on assumptions, internal opinions, or outdated market understanding. When those assumptions guide product development, businesses risk investing time, budget, and resources into something that doesn’t truly resonate once it hits the real world.

Bridging this gap between what teams think they know and what users actually need is where the difficulty can lie. However, by grounding new product development in real-world insight, businesses can make evidence-based choices that stand up to commercial pressure.

At Smallfry, we call this the confidence to commit. It’s the clarity that comes from evidence: uncovering and validating user needs, market gaps, and the value your product must deliver to succeed. Design research gives teams the power to move forward decisively, justify investment, and align stakeholders in a direction that’s based on reality and consumer insight, not guess-work.

When Consumer Insight is Missing: Barclays bPay

In 2014, Barclays launched bPay – a contactless payment wristband designed for quick transactions at events. Encouraged by early interest, the range expanded in 2015 to include fobs and stickers, aiming to replace physical cards with the convenience of tap-and-go.

But despite the strong branding behind it, the launch was less successful than expected.

Th Barclays team had overestimated the desirability of adding yet another payment device into people’s lives. Research later showed that UK users didn’t want a separate wearable just for payments. Instead, they preferred to have everything built into a device they were already carrying daily – a smartphone, for example.

As a result, when Apple Pay and Google Wallet gained momentum, bPay products quickly became redundant. Barclays ultimately withdrew the product range in 2021.

Smallfry’s Human-Centred Approach to Uncovering Customer Needs

At Smallfry, we ensure commercial success by diving deeper than market research. Our team use sophisticated techniques to deeply understand your target audience’s needs, wants, and behaviours to uncover invaluable design insights.

In the past, this has involved:

• Focus groups
• Workshops
• Consumer interviews
• In-home trials

Having generated consumer insights through these techniques, our unique ability lies in integrating them into our design process to deliver desirable products that resonate with customers, improve ratings, and ultimately drive organic business growth.

Smallfry – Design Based on Insight

In 2021, we developed the new HL5 Upright Vacuum Cleaner for Hoover – a once-iconic British brand name that had slowly morphed into just a verb to describe vacuum cleaning. Over the last few decades, the Hoover brand had become a distant memory to many consumers.

Therefore, Smallfry’s aim was to put Hoover back on the map. To achieve this, we put their consumers at the forefront of the process – using our design research to inform the design development process, and ultimately designing a 5-star rated vacuum cleaner.

“The process Smallfry applied to this project has defined the way all Hoover vacuums have been developed since and this can be seen in all of them having 4.5+ star reviews. The transformation of the brand has begun!”

Speak to our team to discuss validating your next product decision.

Smallfry is excited to announce the launch of a landmark project developed with Trio Motion Technology: the Motion-PLC.

Debuting today for orders, the new controller features Trio’s advanced motion control performance with the functionality and simplicity of a PLC.

A defining feature of the product is the incorporation of a modular front loading slice expansion system that enables engineers to easily swap out and expand modules as needed.

During the project, Smallfry worked closely with Trio on both the industrial design and mechanical engineering, ultimately delivering a market-ready solution that sets a precedent for future Trio products.

We developed a distinct Visual Brand Language capitalising on the Trio brand red, with an eye-catching side panel that provides a repeating colour accent visible across the front of the full array of mounted devices.

Our engineers worked alongside Trio’s electronics team to pack the product full of new technology while minimising tooling investment and navigating a competitive IP landscape. Through our team’s combined design and engineering expertise, Smallfry have effectively balanced the competing demands of high performance, tight dimensional constraints, and manufacturability.

The Motion-PLC’s design supports an impressive technical leap and will streamline machine design while reducing costs for OEMs.

We look forward to sharing more about our involvement in the coming days and weeks.

View more of our work in the industrial sector here.

Alternatively, speak to our team to discuss your next project.

Smallfry recently partnered with Perrigo to design and develop the UV Toothbrush Steriliser Clip – a new addition to the Steripod range. From hands-on research through to ideation and prototyping, we designed a product that is stylish, easy-to-use and aligned with Steripod’s brand identity.

By exploring the potential of UV technology to eliminate bacteria, we created a solution that delivers meaningful benefits to users while strengthening the Steripod brand.

This year, Life Sciences Week is taking place from the 15th-19th September. The initiative features events across the West Midlands, offering opportunities to connect, collaborate, and share expertise within the life sciences ecosystem.

View the full Life Sciences Week events schedule >

Smallfry Workshop

On Tuesday 16th, we’re hosting a free workshop at the Smallfry studio designed to help start-ups and university spin-outs turn ideas into commercialised medical devices.

In collaboration with Sotas (compliance & regulation), System C (software design) and Smallfry (industrial design), we’ll simulate the journey from initial concept through to launch, demonstrating how to navigate regulations, build the right technical foundations, create investor-ready business plans, and design products that are patient-facing and ready for real-world use.

Eager to learn more about the journey of innovation to commercialisation? Sign up to the workshop >

The event will open and close with networking, giving you the chance to discuss your own challenges directly with industry experts.

Got an idea bring to life or a device to further develop?

To discuss your next project, speak to our team.

Cytecom’s diagnostic device, developed in collaboration with Smallfry, has been backed by the West Midlands’ Mayor and featured in a BBC press release this week, marking a milestone in its journey from innovation to commercialisation.

The device offers a breakthrough approach to rapidly identifying the most effective, targeted antibiotic therapy, drastically reducing the time required for critical decision-making in patient care.

Cytecom partnered with Smallfry with the ambition to translate their lab-proven method into an optimised diagnostic platform suitable for industry adoption.

To achieve this, we collaborated with Cytecom to undertake in-depth research into the needs of the working environment and its personnel within clinical laboratories. This research unearthed insights that formed the foundations for the design process that ultimately delivered the system – optimised to integrate seamlessly and exceed laboratory requirements, and ultimately save lives. Since our involvement, Cytecom has commercialised its first research-use device and is now securing funding and initial clients in the academic sector.

This week’s BBC coverage followed the Mayor’s visit to see the diagnostics system in action, where Smallfry’s senior designer, Charles Jones, talked through our design approach and the insights that informed the final concept model.

Charles Jones [right], senior designer at Smallfy, presents Cytecom’s final concept model to West Midlands’ Mayor, Richard Parker [left].

The Cytecom project was made possible through the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator, which connected us with Cytecom as part of our role as a delivery partner.

From front-end research to a refined concept design, grounded in the needs of the market and ready to pitch to investors, this project demonstrates how Smallfry’s design expertise delivers innovation with measurable business impact. We’ll be sharing the full story in an upcoming case study.

View the BBC article here >

Got an idea to bring to life or a device to further develop?

To discuss your next project, speak to our team.

We’re pleased to share that Helen Doyle and her team from Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been named winners of Health Tech Enterprise’s Innovation Voucher competition.

Sponsored by Smallfry, the initiative offers £3,000 of design support to help develop promising early-stage MedTech ideas. Helen’s idea in particular is a device to improve the process of finding veins in neonates, which she states, “could genuinely make a difference for the neonatal population.”

“What started as a glimmer of an idea has become a real opportunity,” said Helen. “I’d never have gotten to this stage without the support from HTE and Smallfry.”

Work is already underway at the Smallfry studio to develop the idea into an initial concept suitable to support Helen and her team in securing further funding and development.

Dr Karen Law, Head of Innovation at HTE, said:

“Accessing technical expertise is vital for the success of early-stage development, and we’re very grateful to our sponsor Smallfry, who are working closely with the team to kick-start this process.”

At Smallfry, we’re committed to continue supporting frontline medical innovators translate their insight into practical, commercially viable solutions that improve patient outcomes.

Got an idea to bring to life or a device to further develop?

To discuss your next project, speak to our team.

In today’s market, successful businesses can’t rely on ad-hoc ideas or isolated departments. True innovation needs to be embedded into your company culture, which starts with aligning your team around shared business goals.

What is innovation training?

Innovation training involves aligning business teams and their development pipelines with specific business goals. Setting these clear goals and creating team cohesion encourages interdepartmental collaboration and avoids wasting time and resources. Plus, training workshops aim to give innovation teams the ability to make themselves self-sufficient; continuing innovation in future projects and keeping their businesses competitive and growing.

Innovation training is particularly valuable when your business is preparing for new product development, entering a new market, or needs to get independent teams working toward a shared strategy.

Can a single workshop shift growth strategy?

A Smallfry ideation workshop involves bringing together a team (ideally from a range of departments) to take part in guided brainstorming, analysing past data to figure out exactly what is needed to encourage organic business growth.

While one workshop can encourage design thinking and lay the groundwork for innovation success, we also offer ongoing support to help shape and determine your new product development (NPD) pipeline.

Case study 1: Marks & Spencer General Merchandise

When partnering with Smallfry, Marks & Spencer aimed to revitalise their general merchandise offering by embedding a more innovative, commercially focused approach across teams. We ran a series of high-energy ideation workshops designed to align departments and uncover actionable opportunities for growth.

“Smallfry’s approach to product innovation was very different. They were truly customer focused and invested in our growth. Excellent facilitation of workshops.”

– Simon Colbeck, Head of Innovation and Quality

By the end of the project, the M&S team had generated over 150 commercialised ideas ready to feed directly into their product development pipeline.

Case study 2: Salts Healthcare’s Confidence BE® range

When Salts Healthcare approached us at Smallfry, their goal was to redefine the experience for people with ostomy bags and deliver solutions that would truly improve lives. Our role was to uncover consumer insights and build a strategic foundation to guide the development of designs for their new range of ostomy products.

During the project, we ran focus group sessions with stoma patients and medical professionals, then fed insights into innovation workshops with the Salts Healthcare team. These included immersive “Day in the Life” workshops (helping the team understand the daily challenges of stoma patients) and ideation workshops where we brainstormed and identified critical goals before exploring concepts to solve them.

Since launching the Confidence BE® range, which smashed sales targets, Salts Healthcare have now recruited a dedicated innovation team; responsible for ensuring there is a continuous pipeline of innovation, guided by the co-created vision: “Caring, listening, and innovating to improve lives.”

View the case study >

What are the benefits of attending an ideation workshop?

• Determines clear business metrics, providing a new way to track ROI.
• Reduces the risk of wasting time and resources by focusing efforts effectively.
• Encourages inter-departmental collaboration to drive aligned innovation.
• Inspires innovation as a habit, keeping your business competitive.
• Supports long-term financial security through strategic thinking, ultimately creating organic business growth.

Want to explore how a workshop could align your team and fuel innovation?

Medical design is a highly specialised field that demands expert attention to navigate the challenges of bringing a product to market efficiently. At Smallfry, we have extensive experience in this sector, having delivered numerous successful designs.

Our Head of Sales, Kelly, will be attending the Med-Tech Innovation Expo with a Smallfry product designer on both the 4th and 5th of June, and (whether you’re looking to scale up a start-up or solve a technical challenge) we’d love to hear about your next project. We’ll be at stand E20 in Hall 2.

Make the most of your time at the Expo, and book a time to talk us through your project >

The event is held at the NEC in Birmingham. Register here.

More medical designs →

Got an idea bring to life or a device to further develop?

Smallfry are the designated product design Patron of Medilink Midlands and a trusted delivery partner on the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator.

Smallfry were selected by Haier to assist the development of a new range of SDAs for the kitchen, aimed at European consumers. The project followed a co-creation approach, bringing together a host of academic and industrial institutions.

Smallfry coordinated this co-creation process, applying our user-centred design expertise to ensure all teams remained aligned with Haier’s “Zero Distance to the Customer” philosophy. The project ultimately resulted in the creation of a cohesive, user-focused product range that enabled Haier to break into a brand new SDA category.

View the case study >