Achtergrond "Open days 2009 Fringe Event" on "European Design as expression of Creativity & Innovation"

 

"Open days 2009 Fringe Event" entitled "European Design as expression of Creativity & Innovation"

Work shop 1 - DESIGN POLICY and MANAGEMENT  

Date and time: Tuesday 6th of October 2009, 14:00 - 16:15

Venue:                Liaison Agency Flanders Europe, Kortenberglaan 71, 1000 Brussels

Registration can be done by sending an email to design@vleva.eu with message Workshop 1

Workshop 2 - DESIGN  in SME's and INDUSTRIES

Date and time: Tuesday 6 10 2009 : 16:45 - 18:30

Venue : Liaison Agency Flanders Europe, Kortenberglaan 71, 1000 Brussels

Registration can be done by sending an email to design@vleva.eu with message Workshop 2

 

•1.    Introduction

•1.1.       Design Leadership through Design Management

Organising design success and design leadership is a key issue for improving both the regional and international competitive edge. In the past design promotion centres have been invaluable organisations for raising the design awareness of companies and educating the business community in the value of design and working with outside designers. Though these issues are still relevant at the present time, design promotion centres are facing other challenges. The pressure of raising funding from beyond government agencies has also greatly changed the context of design promotion centres[1].

These changes can be analysed both in terms of macro-economic and management science. However, design promotion centres have often been driven in the past by a traditional craftsmanship culture that entails a strategy focused mainly on product design and on the performance of products in the market place. While at the same time the design profession was fundamentally changing with packaging design, corporate design and web design as driving forces.

The economic and managerial context of "design added value" with regional or national design promotion centres acting as centres of resources for integrating design into SMEs. SMEs are a very interesting target for design promotion centres, who can help in improving an SMEs competitive edge and performance. It should not be forgotten that designers are often SMEs also.

The organisational culture of SMEs is based on key factors such as networking, devotion to service, quality and permanence - especially when they are family owned. Informal communication systems and above all a horizontal structure facilitate the decision process and access to top level management. Innovation, if wanted, is therefore easily managed. Finally, managers of SMEs are often the founders and as entrepreneurs they understand what the creative process is about and the necessity to look different from competitors.

Previous research by Borja de Mozota of 33 SMEs nominated for the European Design Prize competition showed that there are different solutions for design management and design strategy. Any SME can target its design strategy towards one specific design value:

  • Design as perception. Design for differentiation in the market: brand and product originality of shape. Measure design value through economic value of brand image, profit increase, market share and price premium.
  • Design as performance. Designers' coordination or integration value: building consensus between actors in project management through dialogue, user orientation and visualisation skills or improving the employees creative skills and challenging barriers between functions.
  • Design as vision. Design for transformation or vision value: designers as facilitators for strategy formulation and for improving the company capability to adapt to change and to a continuous learning process.

For SMEs just as for any organisation, the objective is to work on deciding which value is needed in this trinity of possibilities, organising design management on operational, tactical and strategic decision levels[2]. Used by design managers in their companies, it might be applied also in design support and design promotion, value creating process.

Borja de Mozota and Marie Marguerite Gabillard summarise the research framework using the classic Balanced Scorecard Model into the "four powers of design model":

  • design as perception: creating client value through design;
  • design as performance: creating performance value through design;
  • design as vision: creating strategic value through design;
  • design as "good business": creating shareholders value through design.

•1.2.       The European mapping and initiatives on Design

The European Commission will issue a Strategy or Communication on design to be published during the European Year of Creativity and Innovation  in 2009. This non-legislative policy document is aimed at the other European institutions, notably the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and will include guidance to EU Member States on national design promotion strategies in addition to other measures to support the growth of Europe's design industries and to stimulate the wider adoption of design by Europe's 23 million Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

The European Commission will reinforce its efforts to build up a knowledge base for design activity and design policy in Europe. The European project ADMIRE[3], supported by the Commission under PRO INNO Europe, is currently conducting a mapping study of design and design management in Europe. Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission, stated that the European Commission will ensure the existence of a permanent body for a dialogue on design policy as a key component of Europe's innovation policy, within the context of achieving the goals of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. The Bureau of European Design Associations BEDA[4] was established as an Association of Associations in 1969. It currently has 42 members in 23 Member States comprising representative professional design organisations and national design promotion centres. Its role is to communicate the value of design and innovation to the institutions of the European Union.

Within the European Commission DG ENTR prepares [a staff working document on] the European strategy on Design via a public consultation on "Design as a tool for innovation", the next Design innovation strategy for Europe [which will go online/be published in April and will be open for  two months, it will not lead to policy implementation and recommendation, but raise awareness in the Member states , she will also discuss the role of design in the European public procurement directives/regulation, e.g. the design contest, design for all users : "design for all", the European research on customer driven design, the European EcoDesign and the extension of this regulation, the EU's cultural industries and cultural agenda in promoting and stimulating design, creativity, innovation and growth in the European Union.

•1.3.       Design as expression of Creativity & Innovation

During the Open Days 2007 the conglomerate "The Creative Sector Makes It Happen!" organised two workshops: ‘Promoting a Creative Environment' and ‘Boosting Business in the Creative Sector- How can it be done?' The workshops demonstrated that creative industries are not an isolated sector. On the contrary, it is like many other businesses; relaying on its surroundings for essential inputs. Speakers representing the regions within the conglomerate as well as representatives from the European Institutions gave their view on how regions can develop and exploit the creative industries as a key driver for growth and jobs. The 2007 conglomerate was the first one organising workshops on the creative sector and the interest shown for participation in the two sessions was enormous and demonstrated a widespread interest from European cities and regions in the themes linked to the sector and the mechanisms supporting it.

The Open Days 2008 conglomerate "Creativity & Innovation" raised awareness on the sector's economic impact on regional development and regional economic growth, shifted focus from one exclusively on the creative industries as an emerging new business sector to a focus also on ‘ordinary' and existing businesses and on creativity as a strategic tool for innovation and business development with a view to fostering growth and development in Europe's cities and regions. Participation of 280 people from most EU countries in the two workshops

The proposed Open Days 2009 conglomerate "European Design as expression of Creativity & Innovation" wishes to build on last year's success and continue and contribute to raised awareness on the sector's economic impact on regional development and regional economic growth. This year, however, with a twist and a shift of focus to the importance of Design : both management and application in the creative industries and ‘ordinary' and existing businesses and on design as an expression of creativity as a strategic tool for innovation and business development.

By addressing the sub-theme of the Open Days 2009 "Restoring Growth : Innovation in Europe's regions and cities" the consortium wishes to highlight the relationship between creativity & innovation - with a view to fostering growth and development in Europe's cities and regions.

•2.    Background

2.1. European Approaches e.g. the Community Design system

The European Commission adopted Directive 98/71/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs[5]. The European Commission adopted two Regulations[6] in July 2007 which are necessary to give effect to the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs. The adoption follows the Council's approval of the EC accession to the international design registration system of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) [7]  on 18 December 2006. The EC accession will allow EU companies, with a single application, to obtain protection of a design not only throughout the EU with the Community Design, but also in the countries which are members of the Geneva Act. The Community Design system provides for the acquisition of protection for designs with unitary effect for the whole territory of the EU. The Geneva Act allows designers to obtain design protection in a number of countries through a single international application filed with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), replacing a whole series of registrations with different national or regional offices. So far 23 countries have become party to the Geneva Act, including Singapore, Turkey and Switzerland..

Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: "The new legislation will make it possible for European business to safeguard their design rights globally with less bureaucracy and reduced costs. The new system has become operational in the EU since the 1st of January 2008." The new legislation not only implements the necessary measures for the administration of international registrations designating the Community, but also aligns some aspects of the design legislation with the trademark legislation. 

The first text amends Regulation on Community Designs No 2245/2002 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community Designs. The modifications relate to the examination for registration and for renewals, to the means of communication with the International Bureau and to publicity relating to international registrations designating the Community. In addition, some modifications have been included to simplify the administration of the designs proceedings by the Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), which is in charge of handling the administration of the registered Community designs. The second text amends Regulation related to Trade Marks and Designs 2246/2002 concerning the fees payable to the OHIM (Trade Marks and Designs). The modifications relate to the administration of individual fees for international registration designating the European Community.

The regulations will enter into force once the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement is applied to the EC. The deposition of the instrument of ratification before WIPO is scheduled for end September 2007. EU businesses would then be able to benefit from the new system as from beginning of January 2008.

2.2. European Approaches e.g. mapping the creative sector

The study "The economy of culture in Europe" commissioned by the European Commission and published in November 2006 draws attention to important data on the contribution that culture makes to economic growth and its impact on employment. For instance, the study shows that in 2003 the cultural sector contributed about 2.6 % of the EU's GDP and showed higher growth than that of the economy in general[8]. In fact the creative industries sector is one of the fastest growing sector in the global economy. In addition to its direct contribution to the economy the cultural and creative sector has an indirect impact on the European social and economic environment by promoting innovation in other sectors of the economy.

The creative sector makes a significant contribution to the development of information and communication technologies, playing an important role at local, regional and urban level, and would appear to be essential to safeguard sustainable development. Over the past few decades there has gradually been an increase in awareness of culture's economic dimension and its role in creating jobs and in rural and urban development. The challenge posed by this emerging cultural industry is to respond to the appearance of new goods and services on worldwide markets.

In May 2007 the European Commission proposed the first-ever European strategy for culture[9]. The communication affirmed the central role of culture in the process of European integration and proposed a cultural agenda for Europe, and for its relation with third countries. The new policy stance, entitles "A European agenda for culture in a globalising world", took the form of a Commission Communication and was complemented by an accompanying Staff Working Paper, which describes the many ways in which the European Union supports culture. The policy statement presented three major objectives that together form a cultural strategy for the European Institutions, the Member States and the cultural and creative sector. One objective is the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy.

In the end of January 2008 Commissioner Figel announced the launch of a study on the role of culture and EU's cultural industries in promoting and stimulating creativity, innovation and growth in the European Union. Furthermore the study should also focus on ways to explore and promote the specific role of culture in fostering creativity. The study should also help to identify the type of actions that should be implemented during the forthcoming "European Year of Creativity and Innovation through Education and Culture" in 2009. Moreover the Commissioner announced the creation of a group of experts from Member States and a group with civil society organisations whose tasks will be to focus on unleashing the full potential of the cultural and creative industries especially in small and medium sized enterprises to help achieving the aims of the EU's Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs.

2.3. National Approaches e.g. the UK Design Council

In 2005, the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown commissioned Sir George Cox, Chairman of the UK Design Council, to carry out a major review looking at how best to enhance UK business productivity by drawing on British creative capabilities. The review[10] was published in December 2005 and addressed a question that is vital to the UK's long term economic success - namely, how to exploit the nation's creative skills more fully.

The result was a set of specific recommendations to be considered by the British Government, businesses across the UK, the education sector and also broadcasters.

The recommendations are grouped under five headings:

  • Implement a national support programme which will tackle the issue of awareness and understanding within SMEs
  • Improve the effectiveness of Government support, including a review of the R&D Tax Credit system
  • Broaden the understanding of tomorrow's business leaders
  • Use the power of public procurement to drive imaginative solutions
  • Raise the profile of the UK's creative capabilities via a network of regional centres of innovation and creativity

The Chancellor's response was very positive, supporting key recommendations from Sir George. We now have to wait and see how the plans will be taken forward and whether each of the English Regional Development Agencies and other UK home nations respond to the challenge.

•3.    Consortium

For the Open Days 2009, the consortium ‘Design as a source of Creativity & Innovation' consists of the following cities and regional partners:  Flanders (BE),  Eindhoven region (NL), Lodz region (PL), city of Helsinki (FI), Région de l'Ile-de-France (FR), Unioncamere Lombardia (IT), Oficina del Gobierno de Cantabria (ES), South West UK (UK) and West Midlands (UK).

3.1. PARTNERS of EUROPEAN CITIES AND REGIONS

Flanders Region(BE), Eindhoven Region (NL), City of Helsinki (FI), Lodz Region (PL), North East of England (UK), Représentation de l'Ile-de-France (FR),

Lombardia (IT), Cantabria (ES), South West UK (UK) and West Midlands (UK).

The consortium has wide European geographical coverage including regions from east, west, north and south within the European Union. Further, the conglomerate consists of regions all with experience and different approaches to the theme of creativity & innovation. By contributing to the Open Days on this theme, the conglomerate offers opportunities for multi-facetted learning and sharing of experience on the subject.  

•4.    Programme

Tuesday 6 October 2009, afternoon  

14:00 - 16:15 (coffee break) 16:45 - 18:30 (reception)

The venue will be the premises of the Liaison Agency Flanders Europe, Kortenberglaan 71, 1000 Brussels. The conference facilities accommodate 130 people.

Two workshop sessions will be organised and are described in greater detail below. The work shop sessions will be followed by a reception on the same premises. Charlotte Arwidi of DG Enterprise and Industry and Roger O'Keeffe of DG EAC of the European Commission and  BEDA President of the Bureau of European Design Associations Jan R. Stavik will give the plenary lectures in the first workshop.

The sessions will be moderated by Johan Valcke, director of Design Flanders and Ingrid Vandenhoudt , Design Management Consultant of Design Flanders.


4.1. Aim of the work shops

The two workshop sessions will be a forum for discussion, for exchanging experience and showcasing regional best practices. In order to establish ample opportunities for contributions from the audience, the sessions will be highly interactive with a combination of key note speeches, panel discussions and interactive breakout sessions. The facilities and the size of the conference room at the venue is of a size allowing well for interactive formats such as breakout sessions and speed-networking (different tables where one speaker shortly presents his or her case, followed by an interactive and intimate discussion. After 15 minutes, participants will shift to another table).

Thematically, the two sessions builds logically upon each other. Workshop 1 deals with the DESIGN POLICY and DESIGN MANAGEMENT in Europe as an emanation of creative innovation industries. Workshop 2 takes this one step further and shifts focus towards the relation of DESIGN IN COMPANIES with the business sectors and looks into creative innovation with design in creative and traditional industries.

The red thread and explicit link between the two workshops thus lies in exploring and demonstrating the potential arising from synergies between creative and traditional industries and the common denominator for both workshops essentially becomes how to unleash fully the potential of creativity and creative industries; not merely for the development of the sector itself, but for innovation in regions and across business sectors.

4.2. Objective of the workshops 

The objective of the two workshops is to share knowledge and bring forth regional experience and best practice on the following overarching issues:

  • § Identify characteristics of DESIGN POLICY in EUROPE and look at which organisations shape DESIGN POLICY towards SME's (BEDA, UK Design Council, ...) adds value to the local-regional economy,
  • § Identify characteristics of DESIGN MANAGEMENT in EUROPE and look at which organisations shape DESIGN MANAGEMENT for SME's (DMI, Flanders Design, Design Wales...) and how the sector adds value to the local-regional economy,
  • § Explore how DESIGN MANAGEMENT, DESIGN SUPPORT and DESIGN PROMOTION can be utilized to enhance companies' innovation capacity and competitiveness,
  • § Explore the role of municipalities and regions in establishing framework conditions supportive of creative DESIGN MANAGEMENT, DESIGN SUPPORT and DESIGN PROMOTION and the use of creativity in innovation,
  • Explore how SMEs are interesting target for DESIGN PROMOTION CENTRES, who can help in improving an SMEs competitive edge and performance. Designers are often SMEs also !

4.3. Target groups

The main group of participants are expected to be regional and local administrations, designers, academics, private and public companies, business entrepreneurs.

•5.    Detailed workshop programme

•5.1.         Work shop 1 - DESIGN POLICY and MANAGEMENT  

Date and time: Tuesday 6th of October 2009, 14:00 - 16:15

Venue:                Liaison Agency Flanders Europe, Kortenberglaan 71, 1000 Brussels

The workshop will be organised as a combination of plenary presentations followed by panel discussions and contributions from the audience and then interactive breakout sessions where regional examples will be showcased.

The focus of the first work shop is on the DESIGN POLICY and MANAGEMENT for creative industries and the creative sector as an emerging business sector with large potential and added value for the local-regional economies. The European Commission will issue a Communication on design to be published during the European Year of Creativity and Innovation  in 2009. This non-legislative policy document is aimed at the other European institutions, notably the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and will include guidance to EU Member States on national design promotion strategies in addition to other measures to support the growth of Europe's design industries and to stimulate the wider adoption of design by Europe's 23 million Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Members of the European Institutions will give some background into the strategic research agenda's of different DG's that focus on the topic of the workshop.

With presentations and best practices from the participating regions, the session will explore the characteristics of the DESIGN POLICY and MANAGEMENT. Furthermore, the session puts up for discussion local-regional framework conditions supportive of the design sector as well as the question of what and how the sector adds value to the local-regional economies. The European Commission will reinforce its efforts to build up a knowledge base for design activity and design policy in Europe. The European project ADMIRE, supported by the Commission under PRO INNO Europe, is currently conducting a mapping study of design and design management in Europe. This information will be complemented by data from existing tools such as the INNO-Policy Trendchart, the Inno barometer and the European Innovation Scoreboard, which will give design a more prominent place from 2008 onwards. The ADMIRE project was launched in January 2007. ADMIRE aims to encourage companies - especially SMEs - to introduce design management procedures in order to improve their competitiveness. To this end, the ADMIRE project intends to stimulate innovation, establish a European knowledge-sharing platform, organise the European Design Management Award  <http://www.designmanagementeurope.com/>  and to identify and test new activities to promote design management.

It should be emphasised that at the regional and local level DESIGN is an important tool in the innovation & creativity process. Also the regional and local level the governance it has a link to the growth and jobs strategy, especially, although not exclusively, through their contribution to the National Reform Programmes works differently in the different regions. We are numerous  regions with different types partners and different approaches towards ‘creativity & innovation' and we define it differently -as ‘creativity based innovation' and ‘ technology based innovation'.

MODERATOR                    Mr Johan Valcke, Flanders Design (BE) & Board Member BEDA: "Design Flanders promotes designers and their designs and stimulates companies and the public to use design"   

KEY NOTE SPEECHES

Presentation no. 1          Mrs. Charlotte Arwidi, of DG ENTR will discuss the integration of design into European innovation policy and into European policy in a larger perspective. She will present the results of a public consultation on a Commission document on "Design as a driver of innovation". [The online publication and launch of the consultation will take place late March/early April. The document will not contain policy recommendations, but is expected to raise awareness in the Member states and contribute to the European policy debate.] The result of the consultation will feed into the new European plan for innovation, planned for late 2009/early 2010. She will also briefly discuss other existing and ongoing Commission initiatives in the area of design.

Presentation no. 2          Mr.  Roger O'Keeffe, of DG EAC will give a speech on the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009, the importance of the creative and innovation for Cities and Regions in Europe and the initiatives presented in 2009 in the context of this European Year.   Creativity and innovation contribute to economic prosperity as well as to social and individual wellbeing. The European Year of Creativity and Innovation aims to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation for personal, social and economic development; to disseminate good practices; to stimulate education and research, and to promote policy debate on related issues, including the important topic of Design.

Presentation no. 3          Mr.  Jan R. Stavik, of BEDA will give a speech on the Bureau of European Design Associations.  BEDA exists to ensure permanent liaison between the professional societies of designers, the promotional, educational, research, social and design management organisations and networks within the countries of Europe, and to act as a liaison between the Union and the authorities oft he EU.  January 2009 sees the start of the year to celebrate BEDA's 40th Birthday. Initiated in London in 1969 BEDA has been working towards the development of design as a key component of the European culture and economy for four decades. It is fitting and appropriate that BEDA‘s birthday coincides with the 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation.


REGIONAL SHOW CASES

  • Regional Showcase no. 1

Mr. José Luis Sánchez, General Director of Innovation and Business Development from Grupo Sodercan, - Cantabria Region (ES)- "Design as key factor towards the development of innovative technological industries in Cantabria" Grupo Sodercan, which is the Regional Development Agency of Cantabria, supports the development of industrial and technological design through different actions included in the Cantabria Governance Plan and the R&D Regional Plan. Grupo Sodercan is currently supporting the development of the design policy as a key component of its innovation policy. The main example of this strategy is the design in the field of components developed by the Technological Centre of Components (CTC). This area includes the development of knowledge and technological advances to improve the generation and design of products, processes and services as well as the means of production.

  • Regional Showcase no. 2

Prof.Stuart Bartolomew, Principle and Chief Executive, The arts Institute at Bournemouth, South West UK Region (United Kingdom): "Advanced education and scholarship in arts, design and media"

The Arts Institute at Bournemouth is a specialist provider of advanced education and scholarship in arts, design and media. The specialist institute is small by comparison to other Higher Education institutions, but has a significant regional, national and international reputation and, in particular, in its capacity to progress students into the creative industries. The Arts Institute at Bournemouth offers the means for students to acquire the professional skills and knowledge for careers within the creative economy, which is worth €60bn per year to the UK.

  • Regional Showcase no. 3

Mr. Pekka Timonen , Cultural Director, City of Helsinki (Finland) - "Helsinki's bid for the World Design City 2012"

Mr. Pekka Timonen is the Cultural Director of the City of Helsinki since 2005. He has been running the preparations of Helsinki's bid for the World Design City 2012.  Previously, he has worked as the director of the Finnish Cultural Institute in Budapest, led Kaapelitehdas (Cable Factory), the biggest centre for creative industries in Finland, and worked as a production manager of the Helsinki City of Culture Foundation when Helsinki was one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2000.

  • Regional Showcase no. 4

Mrs. Klara De Smedt, of Designcenter | De Winkelhaak, Antwerp (Belgium) "An Urban regeneration project focused on Design", This project has stimulated the regeneration around Antwerp Central Station. Once a glorious shopping area, the street had suffered from the displacement of leading shops in the direction of the river banks. Until November '98 prostitution, crime and drug abuse ruled the neighbourhood. After the approval of a city plan for the surroundings of the new HST railway station the city council  could exile the prostitution from the area, renew the streets and start an ambitious premises policy.

  • Regional Showcase no. 5

Prof. Gerda Roper,  Dean School of Arts and Media,  University of Teesside(North East of England) "the Institute of Digital Innovation" Teesside have recently built the Institute of Digital Innovation which provided starter units, technology and business support to their graduates and emerging SME's through its DigitalCity Fellowship Scheme - Teesside has real expertise in games design, digital imaging etc and the University has produced excellent graduate support linked to industry to enable new digital SME's to thrive. http://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/about/digitalcity.cfm

•5.2.         Work shop 2 - Design  in SME's and industries

Date and time: Tuesday 6 10 2009 : 16:45 - 18:30

Venue : Liaison Agency Flanders Europe, Kortenberglaan 71, 1000 Brussels

Building upon workshop 1, this workshop shifts focus from the DESIGN POLICY and MANAGEMENT to one on DESIGN in SME's and  industries. It explores how DESIGN can be a strategic tool for innovation and how to explore and establish synergies between creative and traditional industries. Design promotion centres have often been driven in the past by a traditional craftsmanship culture that entails a strategy focused mainly on product design and on the performance of products in the market place. While at the same time the design profession was fundamentally changing with packaging design, corporate design and web design as driving forces.

The economic and managerial context of "design added value" with regional or national design promotion centres acting as centres of resources for integrating design into SMEs. SMEs are a very interesting target for design promotion centres, who can help in improving an SMEs competitive edge and performance. It should not be forgotten that designers are often SMEs also.

The workshop will be organised as a combination of plenary presentations followed by panel discussions and contributions from the regions : best practices of regional examples will be showcased. The plenary presentations will set the scene for the regional showcases by presenting different approaches to the theme ‘resources for integrating design into SMEs" and by bringing into play overall and essential questions such as driving forces and framework conditions for bringing this creativity & innovation into play in the local-regional economies.


MODERATOR                    Mrs Ingrid Vandenhoudt , Flanders Design (BE)

PLENARY PRESENTATIONS

Presentation no. 1

Mr. Matthew Desmier, Head of Enterprise Unit - The Arts Institute at Bournemouth (South West UK), Member of Steering Committee - South West Design Forum and Acting Chair - Dorset Design Forum

The South West Design Forum is run by designers for designers and is aimed at developing and strengthening the design industry across the South West of England. It fosters the regional strengths in design and represents the South West nationally and internationally. The forum has grown organically over the past five years and now has 1300 members and satellite fora in the six counties of the South West. The South West Design Forum has been instrumental in developing a programme of continuous professional development for the design industry and in the construction a tool to provide evidence on the return of investment in design. The forum has integrated itself within the Higher Education provision in the South West and has assisted the region to gain its national and international prominence.

Presentation no. 2

Mr. Stéphane Simon, chairman of the  Ilè-de-France Regional Council and chairman of the Lieu du Design, Paris, Région Ilè-de-France (France) Design in the Paris Region involves 4,000 companies and over 30,000 people in generating annual revenue of €2.5 billion. Nearly two-thirds of French designers, working in a large number of independent agencies and 120 in-house design offices are also based here. It all helps to make the region a center of creative excellence that simply attracts good design. So perhaps it's not surprising that the region decided to create what Regional Council Chairman Jean-Paul Huchon calls "A unique and permanent forum for meetings and discussion". He sees Le Lieu du Design as "A place in which to promote industrial design and eco-design as the basis for sustainable development". It's an approach he describes as aiming "To make daily life easier, more pleasant and more comfortable", as well as "Safer and more respectful of our environment".

Presentation no. 3

Mrs. Marriet Mittendorf, Councillor responsible for design, Municipality of Eindhoven (the Netherlands)

Eindhoven organises an annuel Design Week. Einhoven also lead ADMIRE, a project in the European PRO-INNO ACTIONS program, demonstrated and promoted the that well managed design means even better business.  Eighteen partners from fourteen European countries will work together on the establishment of a true European Design Management Award for organisations that integrate design in a successful way in their company's management, policy and strategy. It will also challenge European regional authorities to stimulate innovation through design with a European Design Agenda that supports design economy and promotes design to a broad audience. ADMIRE, a project in the European PRO-INNO ACTIONS program (DG Enterprises and Industry of the European Commission), has realised ambitious objectives in the field of promoting good design management. ADMIRE aims at stimulating companies - especially SMEs - to come into action and enhance innovation and competitiveness of their companies by the implementation of good design management. This will enable them to innovate and differentiate their products and services in a successful way, which will contribute to the innovative power and strength of regional and European economy in general.

The round of plenary presentations will be concluded by a brief panel discussion on Design innovation in SME's and local-regional framework conditions with input and questions from the audience. Participants will then be introduced to different regional cases and best practices.

REGIONAL SHOW CASES

  • Regional Showcase no. 1,

Mrs. Elaria Bonetti, Milan, Lombardia Region (Italy), Agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, "SME's active in the MONZA CLUSTER on Design"

 

  • Regional Showcase no. 2,

Prof. Michael Tovey, Director for Design at the Coventry School of Design, Coventry Universtity - West Midlands Region (United Kingdom): ‘Design support for niche vehicle companies, taking microcab as an example.'

the Coventry School of Design (see http://wwwp.coventry.ac.uk/cu/schoolofartanddesign ) 

  • Regional Showcase no. 3,

Prof. Grzegorz Chojnacki, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts and Disign in Lodz,  Lodz Region (Poland)- "The Role of Institutions of Higher Art Education in Training Designers for Various Branches of Industry"  The presentation will refer to the experiences of the Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Lodz (Poland) in training artists-designers. The history and tradition of the Academy established in 1945 is strongly linked with the modern curriculum, which assumes preparing designers equipped in knowledge of modern design trends as well as information technology skills with strong background in fine arts, which allow realization of projects representing high level of aesthetics combined with function.

  • Regional Showcase no. 4

Prof. James More, Dean, School of Design, Northumbria University NEOE (United Kingdom) Northumbria has recently built an excellent new design school in Newcastle and has a high reputation for fashion and product design. Professor More will speak about how they help their graduates into professional practice and support emerging design SME's which includes their recent development of a fashion school in London (see http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/scd/lcfs/ )

  • Regional Showcase Case no. 5

Mr. Dirk Vens, managing director of Curana, Flanders (Belgium)  Curana has become a strategic development partner for the big European bicycle manufacturers and is closely involved in the technological product innovations of these companies. They are becoming a global trendsetter in innovation in this sector. At Curana they investigate, design, invent, surprise, create, engineer, produce, ... The innovative reputation of the Curana company  is growing, they are winner of the European Design Management Award in 2008. (seehttp://www.belgiandesignforum.be/ see ambassadors, design in SME's, short film.)

CONCLUSIONS   


[1] See studies on Design realised by the SEE DESIGN Partnership and Network http://www.seedesign.org/  : BORJA DE MOZOTA, B., 2002, "Design and competitive edge: a model of design management excellence in European SMEs", Academic Review of the Design Management Journal, vol.2.

[2] CHUNG, K.W.,1992. "The meaning of design management and its strategic value", Fourth International Forum on Design Management & Education, London ; COOPER, R. & PRESS, M., 1995. The Design Agenda. John Wiley & Sons.

[3] Since the 1st of January 2007 ADMIRE, a project in the European PRO-INNO ACTIONS program (DG Enterprises and Industry of the European Commission), has made a dynamic start to realize ambitious objectives in the field of promoting good design management. Eighteen partners from fourteen European countries will work together the next two years in this project under the coordination of the City of Eindhoven (The Netherlands).

[4] BEDA <http://www.beda.org/ >; Michael Thomson, President of BEDA; Jan R. Stavik, Vice-President of BEDA

[5] Official Journal L 289 , 28/10/1998 P. 0028 - 0035

[6] http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/design/index_en.htm

[7] http://www.wipo.int/hague/en/ ; http://oami.europa.eu/en/design/hagueagreement.htm

[8] See study on the Economy of Culture in Europe conducted for the European Commission in 2006 at http://ec/culture/eac/sources_info/studies/studies_fr.html

[9] See Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the EESC and the CoR on a European agenda for culture in a globalizing world at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0242:FIN:...

[10] UK HM Treasury website: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/cox_review/coxreview_index.cfm

Publicatiedatum:
05/05/2009

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