‘Do you want to produce more than 10 of something? pro2 network+ is the place to go!’ – Sara Reichert, TU Dublin, delegate at the 2026 Device Prototyping Summer School.
The pro² network+ held its third Device Prototyping Summer School from the 14th to the 17th of July 2026, led by Professors Steve Hodges and Joe Finney.
Building on the success of previous years, 35 delegates from 8 countries across the globe gathered at Lancaster University in the UK to enjoy group discussions, hands-on tutorials, presentations and keynote speeches from world-leading academics, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Attendees, including students, researchers, academics and industry professionals, took full advantage of all the networking opportunities. These ranged from a get to know you ‘speed-dating’ session on arrival, through to sharing ideas, exploring potential collaborations and getting invaluable feedback from showcasing their own device prototypes. Evening entertainment included a pub quiz and a fantastic live gig by Lancaster University’s very own band, The Usuals, covering crowd favourites late into the evening.
Keynote highlights from an inspirational line-up of industry professionals included:
- Essential information on designing for compliance from Nursel Dogar of Farnell Global.
- Entrepreneurial tips on building an electronics manufacturing business on a shoestring from Simon Monk of Monk Makes Ltd.
- A fascinating presentation on the journey from concept to mass production with tiles by Jonathan Fiene of Bergsonne Labs.
These were complimented by leading academics exploring cutting-edge research topics such as:
- Fabrication of free-form interactive devices with Professor Anne Roudaut from the University of Bristol.
- An insight into working with animatronics with Affiliate Professor Paul Dietz of the Universities of Toronto and Washington.
- Programmable fabrication for functional materials and devices by Professor Yoshihiro Kawahara of the University of Tokyo.
- rib:bit, a Micro:bit-based device for community collection of research data from Dr Heather Shaw of Lancaster University.
- Practical talks on device deployment case studies and working with the Lancaster Devices Lab’s ‘solder:bit’ by Dr Lorraine Underwood.
The packed agenda also included lots of opportunities for delegates to learn, get hands-on experience and develop essential, practical skills, among them:
- KiCAD design of printed circuit boards (PCBs).
- Device prototyping, testing and debugging.
- Test and measurement tools.
- Circuit hacks on ‘I/O pin magic tricks’.
As in previous summer schools, delegates also enjoyed a masterclass in soldering skills as they worked on PCB surface mount assembly. New for this year, they then had the chance to test the micro:bit devices they had created in a treasure hunt, trying to sense hidden check points in a race against the clock.
Prizes were also on offer for the most promising prototypes submitted to the summer school. The following prize-winners all received £250 towards developing their prototypes further:
- Malek Arous – Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), Germany.
- Matt Davison – Imperial College London, UK.
- David Gabriel – Northeastern University, USA.
- Oisín King, Ruaidhri Sinnott & Patrycja Kukielka – Technological University Dublin, Ireland.
- Petr Maj – Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Gabby Martinez – Northeastern University, USA.
- Ben Morris – Newcastle University, UK.
- Dr Shama Rahman – The University of Edinburgh, UK.
- Marco Rapaccini – Lingo Starters Ltd, UK.
- Adam Schmidt – Imperial College London, UK.
In a fresh initiative, all ten prize-winners were asked to present their prototypes so that the other delegates could vote for their favourite. The winner of the Grand Prize, and an additional £1,000 for development, was David Gabriel for his device, ‘DigIt: a wearable digital tap dance interface for musical and interactive performance’. David commented, ‘This week has been filled with lots of learning and it was a pleasure connecting with so many extraordinary people. I am extremely honoured everyone enjoyed my prototype, and I can’t wait to get back to work!’
Winners of the 2026 Device Prototyping Summer School Prize Competition
Other delegates also praised the Summer School:
- ‘I cannot recommend the pro² network+ enough! The entire event blew us away with how well put together it was.’
- ‘To anyone looking to understand the in-depth workings of bringing a device from first prototype all the way to production, while also getting a serious rush of motivation, this is the place to be!’
- ‘One of the best parts of the program was getting feedback from people with different backgrounds and experiences. It gave me a lot to think about and helped me see new ways to improve the project.’
- ‘It was an incredibly informative event, and it was fantastic to meet so many inspiring people from both academia and industry.’
- ‘This past week I have been at Lancaster University participating in the pro² network+ Device Prototyping Summer School and it has been amazing! This experience has also made me so much more comfortable in electronics since I got to learn surface mount soldering, KiCad, and played around with a Micro:bit. Overall giving me skills that I will be applying to my projects in the future.’
- ‘Democratising prototyping starts from creating bridges across different backgrounds, experiences and cultures. And the pro2 network+ is building those bridges without any doubt.’
Maura Lydon, pro² network Project Co-ordinator, concluded, ‘It’s been an absolute blast bringing together global experts in device prototyping and production with a diverse group of delegates who’ve joined us at Lancaster University from all across the globe. We had such a great time connecting with this year’s delegates – please do keep in touch with us, as we’d love to see how you progress on your prototyping journeys!’
About pro² and the Devices Lab
pro² is an EPSRC-funded Network+ with the mission to ease the transition from PROtotyping to PROduction for digital devices.
The Devices Lab at Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications works with collaborators from different disciplines and different institutions to design and scale-up electronic devices that help answer all manner of research questions.