Case: No earwax allowed
In 2010, more than two million hearing aids from Widex A/S have had a so-called nanocoating applied, which prevents moisture and earwax from ruining the electronics.
Up until 2008, Widex A/S, a Danish manufacturer of hearing aids, participated in a public private partnership - the socalled innovation consortia scheme - and the company is certain the users of hearing aids have benefited from this. The innovation consortium developed a new high-tech coating for hearing aids so that they would be better protected against corrosion and therefore not need repairing as frequently as before.
“To Widex, the innovation consortium means that we now have a better position in the market because our hearing aids do not require service as often,” says Jørn Vestergaard, Vice President of Widex. In collaboration with a number of other partners in the innovation consortium The Danish MicroFactory, Widex developed a sort of filter, a nano-coating that protects the hearing aids’ electronics against moisture and earwax.
New knowledge applied commercially
“It is a particularly serious problem if earwax gets into the hearing aids’ loudspeaker. This leads to trouble and expenses for the user when the device needs to go in for service. Add to this the obvious inconvenience of having to do without the hearing aid until repairs are completed. Those problems have been reduced because we now have a better ‘wax trap’ in our devices,” Jørn Vestergaard explains.
The system is now standard and so far, it is included in more than two million hearing aids.
“Naturally, the system is of financial value to us, but I cannot put a precise figure on how much extra we have earned. After all, it is just one of several factors that determine whether a customer buys our product or a product from a competitor,” says Jørn Vestergaard, adding:
“Regardless of the financial sums, we are pleased when we are able to do something that makes life easier for hearing impaired people”.
Project required great investments
Widex has invested significant resources in the project. The investments have gone to tools for the production of those parts of the hearing aids that are subsequently nano-coated at a plant at the Technological Institute. Jørn Vestergaard and other key staff members have also spent time maintaining a close dialogue with the external researchers, including weekly coordination meetings:
“I would clearly recommend other companies to collaborate with researchers and knowledge institutions in an innovation consortium. We also participate in other forms of collaboration where at times it can be a bit cumbersome to get agreements finalised about patent rights and similar issues. But in this project, we have experienced a very pragmatic approach from our partners. Our collaboration has been fruitful and to us, there has been hardly any trouble at all.”
