Brighton engineer tipped as future innovator at major awards

Dan has been announced as a ‘Future Innovator’ finalist at the 2020 KTP Best of the Best Awards, with a judging panel recognising ‘the enormous potential the entire community of Associates represents for the future of the UK economy’.

The KTP programme, which is funded by Innovate UK, is a collaboration between industry and academia and helps small businesses grow by pairing them up with a university and a graduate professional from their industry – in this case Dan, who was recruited in 2017 after gaining a first in MEng Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds.

OSET Bikes, a world leader in the design and manufacture of electric trials and motocross motorcycles, partnered with the University of Brighton for their KTP. Access to the university’s resources has also helped OSET extend their engineering capabilities and to secure high impact European grant funding.

As well as delivering a highly functional prototype motorbike with a proprietary powertrain, Dan has developed a suite of test machines. This has greatly reduced product development time and allowed certification to international standards. 

Dan Hicks with an electric trial bike

He has worked closely with the academic team with pending publications on the topics of peer assessment, additive manufacture and bicycle comfort as well as supervising eleven industry-based student projects.

Dan said: “Being a KTP associate has given me exposure to a great range of projects and responsibility, and I have enjoyed the high level of autonomy.

“I have worked hard through this three-year partnership to deliver the best results I can, and it is rewarding to have these efforts recognised”.

Dan was recently also nominated for The Hammermen Student Prize, which celebrates the achievements of different engineering students each year at the Engineering Professors Council’s Annual Congress.

Derek Covil, academic lead for the project said: “Dan is an outstanding engineer, he has delivered above and beyond our expectations consistently throughout this project.”

To find out how your business could benefit, take a look at our Knowledge Transfer Partnership pages where you can register your interest.

OSET Bikes are also members of the university’s Green Growth Platform, an award-winning green business-innovation network.