With offices in Sydney and Melbourne and about 60 industrial designers, mechanical engineers and electronics specialists, D+I bills itself as Australia's most successful product design and development consultancy.

Its Hunter office is headed by electronics pioneer and Oscar winner John Lancken, who was hired in 2020 as general manager of NewieVentures, founded in 2015 by electronic engineer Heath Raftery. Mr Lancken's knowledge of D+I goes back at least a decade, when his audio and media production company Fairlight was a client of D+I, founded in 1987 by Murray Hunter.

When D+I and Newie Ventures partnered on various projects and, Mr Lancken said, a bridge was built that led to the acquisition: "D+I wanted to scale its electronic design services, it had the relationship with NewieVentures and it made sense."

A motivator in the deal was "the Hunter's stated objective to change its focus from a steel and coal city to a smart city", a transition that would see Newcastle "become a national centre for hi-tech innovation".

"There's such movement here, the University is pumping out talent, there's a wave of interest in the region around innovation, tech and product design," he said.

Mr Hunter said uniting the capabilities of industrial design, mechanical engineering and electronics would allow the firm to offer its customers with a turnkey product design service.

Based in Maryville, D+I Newcastle's speciality is electronics design with a focus on medical and business-oriented devices, and consumer electronics. As it moves to further connect with industry and research bodies, it will be looking to hire and grow "significantly" in the next 18 months as a satellite to its Sydney firm, Mr Lancken said.

Mr Raftery said it was a testament to the diligence and skill of his staff that NewieVentures had attracted the interest of one of Australia's most celebrated product design agencies.

"We remain forever grateful to the trust and enthusiasm our cherished customers demonstrated over six years turning ideas into products. It has been an honour and a privilege to ride the wave of burgeoning passion for innovation this region is renowned form" he said.

"While this particular chapter has closed, it does so with significant momentum, and great things await in the renewed energy and experience-forged wisdom of the chapter that is still be written."