On Monday 21 January 2008, BEDA President Michael Thomson (UK) and Vice-President, Jan R Stavik (Norway) met with Vice-President of the Commission, Günter Verheugen at his office in the European Commission in Brussels.
At the meeting, Günter Verheugen stressed the European Commission’s full agreement with the positioning of design as a “very crucial element” for European competitiveness. “Europe must maintain its position as the most competitive region in the world as far as design is concerned”, said Vice-President Verheugen.
Three key actions were agreed.
1/ The European Commission will issue a Communication on design to be published during the European Year of Creativity and Innovation in 2009. This policy document 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.
2/ The 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 Innobarometer and the European Innovation Scoreboard, which will give design a more prominent place from 2008 onwards.
3/ The 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.
BEDA President Michael Thomson said, “The measures outlined by Vice-President Verheugen today will permanently raise design’s profile in European innovation policy and will help to grow and strengthen design in Europe”.
Policy makers must find it hard to ignore the man who has made Dyson a household word and a pot of money in the process. This short and sweet interview with Jeff Randall, the Business Editor at Sky News, touches on all the usual themes of the importance of engineering and design within the economy as well as science and technology within schools. Between the lines there are some nice insights about prototyping and the importance of the user. You have to admire a man who recognises the issues and puts his money where his mouth is in creating a college to support design and engineering.