News and Events

Award-winning inventor inspires students

3 July 2009

Mandy Haberman, inventor of baby product, the Anywayup Cup, stressed the power of intellectual property at BU’s Design Festival.

The annual Festival of Design & Innovation, now in its 17th year, hosted by the School of Design, Engineering & Computing and sponsored by Nokia, took place recently at BU.

It showcased the creative talents of students from BU’s extensive range of design courses, including Product Design, Design Engineering, Fashion & Textiles, Interior Design, Computer Aided Product Design and Sustainable Graphics & Packaging.

Award-winning designer and entrepreneur Mandy Haberman, inventor of the world-famous baby accessory, the Anywayup Cup, gave the keynote speech to a large audience of students, staff and members of the business community.

Over 170 designs and prototypes which have the potential to make a real impact on our everyday lives were displayed publicly for the first time. These included:

Zunk – a handheld toothpaste dispenser, the perfect gadget for the gift market
ShedGuard – an all-in-one shed lock and alarm system
Tugbug – a trendy shopping trailer for student cyclists
CoolMan – a laptop case with built in workstation to reduce risk of male infertility

During her speech, Mandy Haberman reflected on the challenges of becoming an entrepreneur and offered words of wisdom to student designers. “If you enjoy a challenge and you get a bit of a kick out of living on the edge then go for it. It’s the most fantastic fun to develop products and have your own business and be in control of things. It’s just brilliant.

“But remember, if you don’t have intellectual property rights (IPR) then you haven’t got anything. Patents are really volatile and what’s really important, is brand. Patents can come and go – but if you have a really strong recognisable brand, no-one can take that away from you.

“The important thing for me is to be a very unique brand, to be a very personal brand, a brand that tells my story. None of the other companies can do that.”

Eleven students from the Festival will now head to London to New Designers, the UK’s biggest showcase for graduate design.

Award-winning inventor opens Design Festival