Key takeaways from Develop3D Live 2025: Sustainability, engineering and AI

Red Marlin account director Harriet Evans recently attended Develop3D Live at Warwick Arts Centre, the annual UK event that is dedicated to product development technology and design, with prominent themes including sustainability, engineering capacity and AI. 

There was much to absorb, so read on for Harriet’s key takeaways from a highly informative day. 

Designing products to increase lifespan and sustainability 

Designing products that will last longer, and can be repaired easier, can make a huge contribution to sustainability goals and offsetting carbon, beyond simply looking at materials. 

Liam Donnelly and Tom Jarvis from Kingfisher plc are doing great things in this space, designing the first professional power tool range designed specifically for repairability, which they highlighted in their talk. 

Kingfisher is parent company of retail brands including B&Q and Screwfix, and is backed by a team of in-house industrial designers that is making these increased lifespan products. 

Unlocking sustainability through the extended lifecycle of products could make huge gains, so opens opportunity for more businesses to think differently about their design process. 

AI makes expertise more accessible 

While there are still some industry concerns for AI over data and IP, Develop3D Live showed that, when used as a tool to empower engineers, AI is transformative. Not only through codifying engineer’s knowledge, but in return, putting vast amount of knowledge and expertise at their fingertips. 

Olivier Sappin from Dassault Systèmes and Nick Rogers from Rogers Advisory shared great insights into this from an automotive space, including how human imagination can influence AI and generative design, and how this will sustainably redefine consumer experiences and next gen products. 

It will be interesting to see how this influences other areas of automotive, such as motorsport, which has its own pressures of rigid timescale, razor thin margins and overwhelming amounts of data. 

Tackling renewable energy and sustainability with adaptable designs 

Hydropower is one of the biggest sources of renewable energy capable of supplying the grid, and offers huge opportunity for carbon offsetting in energy production. Dr. Chantel Niebuhr from Energyminer shared more about this in a fascinating introduction to ‘energy fish’ – adaptable and scalable fish-friendly turbines that can harness clean energy from river currents. 

Innovations like this, that are practical, adaptable and cost effective, are really exciting to see in the renewable energy space. Again, another example of product design creating greater chances to improve sustainability. 

Final thoughts 

It was fascinating and highly informative day, experiencing world-leading product design, manufacturing, engineering plus much more, while also making new connections. 

A thanks go to the organisers, exhibitors and speakers for a successful event that provided a great insight into the fundamental changes in the world of technology and design. 

No doubt, some of the topics will have a positive influence on Red Marlin’s work with our automotive clients who are already benefitting from our PR services in the engineering and technology and future mobility sectors. 

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