CHALLENGE When the UK stood in the face of a rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreak across the nation, the British Government sought to prepare its National Health Service (NHS) and ensure sufficient supply of lifesaving medical equipment. But with thousands of people being admitted to hospitals daily, they feared an impending shortage of intensive care beds and machines vital for treating critically ill patients. So the UK Prime Minister called on industry to manufacture new ventilators, asking companies across the country to help meet the unprecedented demand. Responding to the call for assistance, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult CEO, Dick Elsy, pulled numerous leading aerospace, automotive and engineering businesses - including Smiths Group, Penlon, Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, McLaren, DHL and Accenture – together to form the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium. This aimed to pool skills and cross-industry expertise to design and deliver medical ventilators to hospitals nationwide. The consortium submitted a range of design options, all based on existing technologies which can be assembled from parts largely available in the UK. After evaluation and testing, the consortium chose two existing ventilator designs, one by Smiths Group and one by Penlon, and sprung into action to progress production.