Salford University

Working with Salford University

Working with experts can bring a multitude of benefits, as the innovation team at Scholl have discovered.

Scholl is well known for its scientific expertise, but is always looking for new opportunities to share and acquire expert knowledge. This is one of the reasons Scholl has entered into a partnership with Salford University’s Centre for Rehabilitation and Human Performance Research, one of the leading research bodies in podiatry.

This agreement matches the university’s expertise and knowledge of feet with Scholl’s in-depth understanding of consumer needs and how to satisfy them. The aim is to invest in innovation and enable Scholl to make foot science even more accessible to its consumers.

Paula Lashley, Knowledge and Education Manager at Group Innovation, believes the Salford University partnership will prove invaluable. “Scholl, and all of our products, are based on science. Podiatrists are true foot experts and having input from this group of healthcare professionals offers us an excellent basis to develop ideal foot products with proven benefits.”

Five key benefits for Scholl – and Scholl users:

Providing knowledge

Salford will help educate Scholl staff on foot ailments, support our technical centres in India, and communicate with our key audiences, such as pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.

Help with research and innovation 

They can help with experimental research on new products concepts and clinical testing.

Access to experts

Independent experts will provide reports on current medical literature to substantiate products’ medical claims, as well as help provide relevant information for consumers.

The innovation pipeline 

Working together we can develop good ideas using the expert knowledge of both Salford University and Scholl.

Looking at opportunities to develop new products

The Centre for Rehabilitation and Human Performance Research, and the broader Faculty of Health, at Salford has a reputation as an innovative unit, and they can help in developing new foot healthcare products.

A valuable partnership

According to Louise Cruickshanks, Head of Innovation for Scholl Footcare and OTC, the partnership grew out of lucky exchange of ideas.  

“Salford University approached Scholl with a new concept for an insole. The insole wasn’t progressed, but it was clear that the Salford unit was particularly innovative and had a commercial eye. We entered into a six-month partnership to test their innovation capacity, clinical trials and access to experts - and quickly realised there was something special.”

Salford University has the largest podiatry department in the UK with 275 students and world-class clinical facilities. And the department is also part of a wider multidisciplinary school of health that includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, midwifery, radiography, sports science and exercise. The university also has a strong national and international reputation, and is well regarded among the NHS. And we’re right on each others’ doorsteps, facilitating easy communication and teamwork.

Clearly, consumers are becoming increasingly more demanding when it comes to effective foot and lower limb care. Scholl, thanks to its partnership with Salford University, will be well placed to meet that demand.