OVSI originated from an inter-departmental initiative at the University of Cambridge. Now, engineers, scientists, medics, businesses, and NGOs across the world have joined forces in this agile, not-for-profit venture.

Facilitated by the Centre for Global Equality, the Cambridge-based Oxygen Concentrator engineering team is working closely with teams at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the Bahir Dar Institute of Technology in Ethiopia to co-create a context-appropriate device.

The Cambridge oxygen concentrator design team is based in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. The academic team is working closely with Cambridge Precision Ltd, a leading precision engineering company in the Cambridge cluster.

Together, the engineering teams are iterating their prototypes in response to feedback from clinicians and medical technicians in Kenya and Ethiopia, gathered using a Human Centred Design approach.

The design of the OVSI ventilator was led by a team from the Whittle Lab, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with engineers from Cambridge Aerothermal and Beko.