Applied Science uses the skills and capabilities of our Formula One Team to design solutions to complex engineering challenges.
Formed in March 2019, Applied Science is a business division of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix which provides bespoke engineering services combining world-class talent and a high-performance culture with cutting-edge technical capability.
Extracting marginal gains at the leading edge of engineering and aerodynamics requires exceptional people. With the new regulations requiring teams to operate within a fixed budget cap, Applied Science was created to enable the diversification of the company to tackle new and exciting engineering challenges beyond Formula One.
The America's Cup is the most prestigious sailing competition in the world and the 36th running of the event in early 2021 mandated the most technologically advanced vessels that the competition has ever produced.
The sport has embraced the foiling era by allowing flaps on the main t-foils, the same control system that would be used on an aircraft. It allows for greater sophistication in the hydrodynamic design but significantly increases the complexity of the engineering required to design and build the systems.
Through our partnership with INEOS, Applied Science contributed to the technical side of INEOS TEAM UK's campaign with up to 30 of our engineers working in Portsmouth and Brackley to optimise the design, hydrodynamics and complex foil technologies of the Britannia boat.
It's impossible to overstate how positive the relationship with Mercedes has been for us... we were awestruck by their resource.
Sir Ben Ainslie, Four-time Olympic Sailing Champion, Skipper & CEO, INEOS TEAM UK
Applied Science has enabled the team to deploy its capability to tackle urgent challenges in the medical sector brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, a team started work on the design for a ventilation shield inspired by a global appeal to enable surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses to safely care for patients and limit the spread of the disease within hospitals.
Designed and engineered within six weeks, our surgical grade aerodynamic solution, the Zephyr Shield, received fast-track approval from the Imperial Trust Ethics Committee and is currently undergoing full clinical trials on the wards of three London hospitals.
In January 2021, an application was submitted to register the product as a medical device through the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and we are now seeking partners to market and manufacture the Zephyr Shield in large volumes.
This exciting collaboration could significantly improve the safety of staff who regularly perform aerosol generating procedures, enabling us to adapt to working in a world with COVID-19.
Miss Catherine Rennie, ENT Consultant Surgeon Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
