Enterprise Ireland is running a three module course on “integrated design expertise applied to SMEs.” The first course takes place in Limerick on March 21st. Download the linked PDFs for more information.

Module 1 – Using design in your business – Brand management
Module 2 – Market focused innovation and design – Design for manufacture and assembly
Module 3 – Design for value – Design for reliability
Registration Form
Course Presenters

via Core 77 …

Niko Macdonald provides a detailed overview of the recent UK Design Council’s Competitiveness Summit ’06, which was attended by a distinguished roster of speakers and guests, though critically noted by Niko, largely an audience of the converted.

Most thought provoking are Macdonald’s critical reflections on the event.

Ultimately the Competitiveness Summit was a pedestrian, feel-good, networking event that provided few insights or challenges to received wisdom. If this were the first time we had heard these wonderful stories about design, government, education and business, we might have been more optimistic. But over the last 10 or more years—back to the Design Council’s re-founding—we have come to know them well. And it is not clear how much difference is really made by well-researched statistics about design effectiveness in business, or Government ministers’ proclamations of their belief in creativity. Perhaps the problem is being tackled at the wrong level.

Read the review