| Company name: | Medpage T/A EasyLink UK Ltd | Contact name & Job Title | Mike Dines, Managing Director |
| Project title: | MemRabel dementia care aids | Month/year | August 2017 |
| Case study writer: | Merle Harrison | Account Manager | Melanie Davidson |
| The background to the case study |
| Medpage Ltd is a supplier of products for people with special needs. The company has introduced several innovative products during its 30 years of trading, the first being a vibrating alarm clock designed to wake deaf people.
In 1996 the company invented the first sensor controlled Epileptic seizure detector for bedtime use, which is now the top selling seizure monitor alarm in the UK and has helped thousands of families and professionals care for people with Epilepsy. Easylink (which Medpage is currently trading as) was established in 2005 and currently has 9 employees.
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| The challenge / trigger event |
| The company designed a new, innovative product; the MemRabel dementia care aid. The MemRabel has proven successful in aiding daily living for the elderly and people with Alzheimer’s. The current product offers basic care aids, however the proposed new product will provide a wider array of memory aids and safety warning offering a more complete care package.
The service required was to design and produce essential components to enable prototyping of the new product; a memory aid for people with dementia. In particular the company required funding for injection mould tooling, hardware and operation firmware. The proposed product additions will ensure that memory prompts and home safety warnings are notified to affected users and their carers in a simplified manner. |
| The solution |
| Medilink EM awarded an Innovation Support Grant of £8,739 as part of the ERDF-funded ACTIS project. This will help fund the design and manufacture of prototype tooling and operation firmware require to assemble a prototype device.
This development required investment beyond the company’s means, and the intervention from Medilink East Midlands will allow the project to completed within the current financial year. |
| The results / evaluation |
| This major development project for the company will be completed within the current financial year and provide an opportunity to further enhance the company’s brand.
It is expected that the new product range will generate £200,000 income in sales in the first 2 years (starting 2018). This will allow the company to recruit a minimum of 2 new employees. The new product will also help to reduce local authority care costs, as more authorities are turning to assistive technologies to help people live independently. |