About.
Meet the team, and hear the story so far.
The backstory
Forward NPD has its origins in Fen Technology Ltd, a tech consulting firm founded in 2002. Back then, the team specialised in digital broadcast technologies. Over time, the team’s scope expanded and, increasingly, work focused on ‘connected’ technologies. The team now has significant expertise in all manner of Internet of Things products and services.
Fen was acquired by Madrid-based funding specialist Inspiralia in 2018, connecting us with their huge network of innovative European startups. In 2024, having already gained experience working jointly on projects, we acquired industrial and mechanical design specialists, Wright Design.
Together, our talented team of engineers have solid experience in industrial, mechanical, electronic and software design, and an enthusiasm for technology and how it can be applied to meet a commercial objective.
We have delivered hundreds of projects, working closely with:
- Founder-led startups and SMEs who want to develop a product – but without building a whole engineering team.
- Large, established businesses who want to expand their engineering capacity and capability — but without adding to fixed costs.
- Ambitious companies that see the potential of Internet of Things (IoT) and the opportunity to enhance existing products through added capability.
The Forward NPD team
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Dan Walton
Dan brings years of award-winning product design practice to his leadership of the mechanical design...
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Andrew Wynne
Andrew brings years of award-winning industrial design practice to his leadership of the industrial...
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Niels Thomsen
Niels is a founder of Forward NPD's predecessor, Fen Technology, and brings a wealth of experience...
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Steve Baker
With a long background in wireless tech and innovation consulting, Steve leads the team at Forward...
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Our partners
Analog Devices
Avnet
Blecon
EASL
Our process
Describe the ‘playbook’ process.
Talk about the founder’s problem of wanting to know the end from the beginning.
Describe our risk-reducing approach to this dilemma.
Describe the different stages of work … and where the effort might lie.
Our ambition
To be the UK’s go-to new product development business.
To never be disappointed with our delivery to a client, whether that’s delivery of informal advice, a proposal, a feasibility study, a proof of concept demonstrator or the complete manufacturing pack for a groundbreaking new product!