We conceptualize, design, establish business models- and plans, before assembling the right team of skilled technicians, business- and design people to assist and develop. Orchestrating the process and the interdisciplinary integration, along with the involvement of end-users to ensure user-driven innovation, we keep taking care of the idea from the early stages to the finished end product. And the process don’t stop until the product’s fully matured and ready to leave our cozy lab on it’s own.”

Do you have an idea – or need advice on how to move along with your idea?

We have loads of good ideas but love to meet and listen to passionate people with interesting projects, so if you have an idea or need advice, feel free to contact us or drop by for a coffee.

Peter Just, Co-founder, Partner: Passionate, inventive, entrepreneurial.
_

Peter has always been preoccupied with finding and exploring unknown spots, changing traditional perceptions and ways of thinking. Whether it is in art, film-making, inventions or communications, one of Peter’s key competencies is to connect his creative passion with the strategic perspective that will result in a disrupted business idea.
Email: peter@fourmation.dk
LinkedIn: http://dk.linkedin.com/in/justdrengen
Twitter: www.twitter.com/justdrengen

Hans Henrik H. Heming, Co-founder & Partner: Creative, structural, enthusiastic.
_

Hans Henrik has relentlessly challenged the limits in large companies, particularly in the financial sector but also within the design industry. Hans Henrik has always been at the absolute forefront of developments within the Internet and technology – and how to apply these changes to businesses.

Email: hans.henrik@fourmation.dk
LinkedIn: http://dk.linkedin.com/in/hanshenrikheming
Twitter: www.twitter.com/publicmind
Blog: www.publicmind.dk

Per Feldthaus, Co-founder & Partner: Designer, innovator, strategist.
_

Per is a passionate design thinker, merging a rational analytical approach with an intuitive co-creative approach to innovation. As a Honorary Professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture and Steering Committee member of the Beijing Tsinghua University MEGA-Master Programme he is our link to the latest international academic research.
Email: per@fourmation.dk
LinkedIn: http://cn.linkedin.com/pub/per-feldthaus/3/7b6/aa1

Martin Hartmann Jacobsen, Associated Partner: Communicator, conceptualizer, thinker.
_

Martin is on a dedicated quest to merge his educational background in traditional offline communication with a digital approach to all things relating to communication – combining the better of the two worlds with a creative and skewed mindset.
Email: martin@fourmation.dk
LinkedIn: http://dk.linkedin.com/in/martinhartmannjacobsen
Twitter: www.twitter.com/martinjacobsen

Fourmation invents, designs and builds by creating, conceptualizing and executing ideas into new products and services. Operating from Copenhagen and with our office in Palo Alto, we are close to the technology and design-thinking epicenter in Silicon Valley – allowing Fourmation, our partners and our network to benefit from the newest research and development.

A lot of people talk but very few act. We don’t just talk – we do.  And what we do is basically pretty simple: we turn good ideas into profitable products.

These techniques are still very much in use. In the Western world, however, there is a tendency to consider these old-fashioned techniques as somewhat hippie-like and indeed very diverged from that of modern medicine studies and research. Fieldwork and product development within the medicine and pharmaceutical industry are mostly done in laboratories and involve highly skilled scientists, budgets and business plans. And though this is not necessarily a bad thing, there could perhaps be some valuable insights and possibilities out there in the nature?

An Australian weed field.

Australian pharmaceutical company Peplin (bought by Denmark-based Leo Pharma in December 2009) are currently working on the development of a new gel to treat Actinic Keratoses (AK), which is the most common pre-cancerous skin condition and caused by excessive sunbathing and use of solariums. And even if most pharmaceutical and medicine companies are constantly working on product development to ensure proper medicine for patients and steady revenue for the company, the story of Peplin’s work with the gel is extraordinary.

For years, Australian locals have used the white sap from a certain weed to cure warts, fight skin cancer and other face lesions. This plant, the Euphorbia Peplus or just Petty Spurge, is actually a common known weed, ruining gardens all over the world – including Denmark and Australia. It came to Peplin’s attention that the plant was worth a study. And the result: it turns out that the sap from the Petty Spurge is indeed very, very powerful and not just the result of a local wonder tale. Besides the gel to treat Actinic Keratoses, Peplin are now conducting heavy research into other products based on the Euphorbia Peplus.

PEP005 is the working title of the gel, which Peplin will launch in 2012 – to a market with a high level of potential: The direct costs for AK in the United States was $1.2 billion in 2004. 58 million people in the United States are living with AK, 11% to 25% of adults in the Northern hemisphere populations and 40% to 60% of adults in Australia have at least one AK lesion.

And the essence of this story? Besides the fact that Peplin’s gel will safe lives, it points towards the potential benefits of moving away from the office or the laboratory. When working with product development, design, manufacturing – in whatever business you are in – we need to realise that we cannot invent everything in the controlled, sterilized environment of our offices or laboratories. We need to get out into the nature, researching wonder tales, talk to people, listen to stories, local traditions and knowledge – in the very same way historic explorers embarked on adventurous scientific and exploratory expeditions.

(Sources: Peplin, Leo Pharma, Wikipedia and Medical News Today)