Innovative research commissioned by the Western Development Commission (WDC) and carried out by researchers at NUI Galway has highlighted the potential for a doubling of the workforce employed in the Creative Sector over the next 10 years. Additionally this could lead to up to €150 million in additional exports per annum from the sector – a key area of growth identified. The report is a follow up to the WDC’s much heralded Creative West report (PDF Download) published in February 2009, which in itself established the creative economy in the Western Region as being internationally significant with 4,775 businesses employing 11,000 people directly.

The follow up analysis entitled –“Creative Sector in The Western Region – Future Growth Trajectories” (PDF Download), was published this week by the WDC. Complied by a research team led by Dr. Patrick Collins of NUI Galway’s Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) the report maps out the future growth scenarios for an industrial sector that has been bucking international trends in terms of growth.

The SEE project launched SEE Policy Booklet 4, which examines the role of design in bringing innovative ideas to market in the context of 1) new product and service development; 2) design support for SMEs and 3) national design systems:

1. Section one demonstrates that design features not only at intermittent points in the innovation process but can form part of every aspect of the process from generating new product and service concepts and understanding user needs to a product’s production, use and ultimate disposal.
2. Section two describes the lessons learned during the course of the SEE project in delivering design support programmes focused on enabling industry to develop new products and services.
3. Section three contextualises the role of design support programmes within the broader national system for design, which includes other elements that make up a nation or regions’ design resources and actors.

Since design is increasingly highlighted in innovation policies (such as the European Commission’s strategy Innovation Union), mapping regional and national design systems can enable policy-makers to identify opportunities and obstacles in the way actors interact within the system in order to develop better programmes and policies.

SEE is a network of 11 European partners exploring how to integrate design into regional and national innovation policies. Electronic copies of all our publications are available to download from the SEE website: www.seeproject.org/publications.

In Dublin, nature meets future – an excellent basis for sustainable design, Dublin, with its visionary talents across all fields of design is growing the potential to be a model for a bridging cultures and connecting the world by design.

- Prof. H.c. Helmut Langer, Past President International Council of Graphic Design Associations

DUBLIN’S BID FOR WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL 2014

Rising to several centimetres thickness, each copy bearing one of 30 different covers submitted by 30 different designers, comprising a staggering 416 pages of dense research and vivid imagery and accompanied by a specially made film – Dublin’s bid for World Design Capital was submitted for the end of March deadline to the competition agency ICSID. Entitled “PIVOT Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out”, the bid celebrates ambiguity, diversity and difference.

Dublin is a paradox (…) it is not about dour perfection or monotony. It’s about everything that’s possible when people, relationships, creativity and culture collide.

The bid is a collaboration between the four Dublin Municipal Authorities and has National Government support. Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny, considers participation in the World Design Capital project a significant contribution to his Government’s ambitions for Ireland as a creative and innovative economy: In his letter of support for Dublin’s bid he says “this designation if awarded would provide a valuable opportunity for us to showcase Irelands vibrant design and creative industries while the invigoration provided by the proposed programme of events and projects would bring a renewed excitement and vibrancy to the city building on our experiences as City of Science 2012”.

The design and delivery of the bid document and associated film was undertaken by an interdisciplinary consortium of Red & Grey Design; Emma Curley Architect and Areaman Productions (film). Using material gathered from a year of exploratory workshops and conversations facilitated by the co-ordination team led by the Dublin City Architect, they have produced a document that arguably represents the most comprehensive research into a wider Irish design culture since the pioneering report Design in Ireland, which led to the establishment of the Kilkenny Design workshop in 1965. It is hoped that Dublin’s bid will act as a similar catalyst towards developing a shared understanding of the benefits design thinking can bring to economic, environmental, social and political challenges.

This ambition is encapsulated in the bid title ‘PIVOT Dublin – Turn Design Inside Out’ a response to Dublin’s unleashed potential to use design as the vehicle to turn things inside out; to adapt, innovate and grow. A key strength in Dublin’s bid lies in its diversity. Alongside the more established design disciplines such as product, craft, fashion and graphic design, it features architecture and urban design, as well as the new digital design cultures and reflects Ireland’s recent success in animation, film and the gaming industry. Overwhelmed by a plethora of design events that take place in the city, the biggest challenge for the bid team was in the editing of the information. To tell Dublin’s story, the team focused on a few key projects that have transformed the city – including the landmark new bridges that link north and south along the River Liffey, the community connections made by the Special Olympics in 2003, and the international outreach of a Digital Hub project that redesigns computers for schools in Africa.

The Pivot Dublin bid strategy identifies an opportunity to use Dublin as a test bed for new ideas which address local need yet have global relevance. The bid explores these challenges and opportunities under four themes, which represent issues that face all cities; ‘Connecting Cities, ‘Making Cities Lighter’, ‘Making Cities Flow’; and ‘Making Cities Smile’. These themes are being explored through the development of ‘seed’ project collaborations between the public sector, business and design communities. Central to the bid strategy is that the seed projects start in as soon as the bid is submitted and this work is now underway.

The PIVOT Dublin team hopes that the bid will convince an international audience that Dublin is a repository of much talent and a solid tradition of great Irish design. Above all, the bid conveys what a “cool city” Dublin is. Perhaps it does not tell a conventional story but it’s a fascinating one – a story about a very sociable city for an extraordinary design experience. The Dublin design community agrees; as is evident in this testimonial by graphic designer David Smith of Atelier, the first Irish Designer to be elected to the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale):

That is what I would love to emerge from it; the legacy. That we use design to make a difference. If that came out of it at the end – win, lose or fail – that would be the best thing that we could have gotten for our city and the bid certainly presents that opportunity.

More information on Dublin’s bid for World Design Capital 2014, is available from www.pivotdublin.com

Understanding the Return on Investment in Companies, National Industry, Programmes & Policies, Economy & Society

A lack of knowledge and tools to evaluate the rate of return on design investment is often cited as a severe barrier to advancing the understanding of design’s value in Government. With design firmly on the European political agenda as part of the strategy ‘Innovation Union’, policy-makers across Europe will be looking at how design can meet challenges in industry, services and society.

This third SEE Policy Booklet provides an overview of current practice in design evaluation and identifies actions to improve these methods at micro and macro levels in both the private and public sectors. The four sections are:

1. Return on investment in design for individual companies
2. Return on investment in design in national industry
3. Return on investment of public funds in design programmes or policies
4. Role of design and its impact on the national economy and society.

This publication is an output of the European network SEE, funded by ERDF/INTERREG IVC, which has been engaging with national and regional governments to integrate design into public policy.

Download your copy from: www.seeproject.org/publications.

Issue 5 of the SEE Design Bulletin is available for down load at:

http://www.seeproject.org/publications

The SEE project is a network of eleven partners in Europe engaging with regional and national government to integrate design into policy, particularly innovation policy. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVC programme.

This conference is the project’s final event and aims to provide delegates with an overview of design’s role in innovation, recent design policy developments in Europe, examples of successful design policies and promotion programmes. The programme will be opened by Polish MEP, Jan Olbrycht with reflections on design as part of the Europe 2020 strategy.

Highlights from the conference include:

Design as part of innovation policy in a global context

Gavin Cawood / Operations Director, Design Wales

Making design policy happen in Denmark: the journey since 1997

Anders Byriel / CEO of Kvadrat, Chairman, Danish Design Council

Innovate and integrate: Design support for companies in New Zealand

Judith Thompson / Director, Better by Design

Design policy in practice: innovative strategies for local authorities in Flanders

Patrick Janssens / Mayor of Antwerp

Jan Van Alsenoy / Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities

Design as a Government capability

Bryan Boyer / Strategic Design Lead, SITRA – the Finnish Innovation Fund

EU Design and Innovation Initiative: What’s next for design in Europe?

Christine Simon / European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry.

Further information can be found on http://www.seeproject.org/.

Last night I found a 50% off deal for custom created calendars. I thought it would be a good idea to buy one and customize it with my photos from China. I believed it could make a great present for my parents for Christmas, as they are always asking me for pictures and we don’t see each other so often. (Sometimes is hard to be so far away from home.)

I was all enthusiastic and started to look through all my pictures in order to find the best 12. I uploaded the pictures and double checked everything for printing. According to the website I should pay €7.99 as the calendar is half price. I went on and decided to start the checkout steps:

Step1: Input my details ( name, address…)

Step 2: I was being asked if I would like to order any other objects with my pictures printed on them (mugs, key chains,  mouse pads…) I said fair enough, they are trying to sell their products / giving me more options. As I only wanted the calendar I just decided to move on to the next step

Step3: Some more objects with my pictures on them. (This is getting annoying. I thought I’ve been over this step before.)

Step 4: I was offered a customised email address (I still don’t know what this has to do with my pictures and my calendar)

Step 5: I am asked to recheck my details

Step 6: I am being showed an invoice and asked how I would like to pay: through PayPal or by credit card. The invoice is for €12.98. I check it again and I see that a Photo Calendar Upload Fee of €4.99 has been added. I don’t know what it is or why I have to pay for it but I decided that €12.98 is still not that bad as I believe my parents will really enjoy the calendar so I chose the credit card option and move on to the next step. (by this time the steps are not traced at the top of the page anymore so i have no idea how many steps are left in the process)

Step 7: Insert credit card details. (finally a ray of hope that I could be almost done)

Step 8: I am being asked how long I am willing to wait for the parcel to arrive… I am being given 4 options from 21 days to 1 day with prices ranging from €5.25 to over €12. ( I am getting frustrated… I am almost giving up… this is the 2nd extra amount that is being added to my bill and I am not too happy about it)

Step 9: I am being asked if I would like some ‘Christmas Return Address Labels’ with my name and address printed on them. (this is getting painful… all I wanted was a calendar) I scroll down and I finally see two invoices; but, to my amazement, none of them match either the €7.99 that I thought I was going to pay for the calendar or the €12.98 that I was announced I have to pay because of the €4.99 Photo Calendar Upload Fee or the €18.23 amount which included the €5.25 Shipping and Processing tax.

The first invoice was for €22.06 and the second one for €30.46. As I wasn’t going to pay any more than I had to, I went through the €22.06 invoice again:

• €7.99 – calendar
• €4.99 – Photo Calendar Upload Fee
• €5.25 – Shipping and Processing (Slow 21 days)
• €3.83 – Tax (I thought this was already included in the prices that I have been given)
• Total: €22.06 (almost 3 times the amount I thought I would have to pay at the beginning)

At this point I closed the browser window and gave up!

Design Wales is calling upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Assembly Government to consider the potential significant role for design in future innovation, public service and social enterprise policies and programmes. This is in the light of increased commitment to design agenda by other nations around the world and in preparation for the new Innovation Policy published by the European Commission.

On the 14th October Design Wales launched the MANIFESTO: Design for Innovation in Wales: Industry, Services and Society. On the same day, the e-petition ‘Design for Innovation in Wales’ was opened on the National Assembly for Wales e-petition website.

Sign the petition.

The second policy booklet (PDF) from the SEE Project was recently published. There will be a total of four policy booklets over the course of the programme.

Design thinking can be a tool for realising social innovation and sustainable development by contributing to long-term behaviour change and integrating the user experience into significantly improved products, processes, services and systems. This Policy Booklet outlines the rationale behind policy intervention in this domain, explores how design can be employed to address social innovation and sustainable development, provides illustrative case studies and proposes policy recommendations. We have applied this framework under four headings: communities, industry, the public sector and policy-making.

In addition, the third SEE Bulletin (PDF) was published and features a case study on our own Innovation by Design programme. You can also download the entire case study review of the Innovation by Design programme (PDF).

FURTHER INFORMATION:

SEE : Sharing Experience Europe – Policy, Innovation & Design

SEE is a network of eleven European partners sharing knowledge and experience on how design can be integrated into regional and national policies to boost innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and social and economic development. The aim is to pool knowledge, share experiences, stimulate debate, develop new thinking and build rapport and credibility in order to influence policy. The project’s activities include: opening and closing conferences; thematic workshops involving partners and policy-makers; a study visit; a library of case studies; policy proposal booklets; an internal contacts database and the biannual SEE bulletin.

SEE is operating from September 2008 to June 2011, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG IVC programme. Design Wales is the project’s lead partner. The Centre for Design Innovation at IT Sligo is one of five Policy Recommendation Research Partners on the project.

On the 9th November 2009, the SEE project launched its first Policy Booklet on Integrating Design into Regional Innovation Policy (PDF) at the SEE network summit in Copenhagen. SEE is a network of eleven European partners working to lobby our national and regional governments to assimilate design and creativity into public policy. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG IVC programme.

The SEE Policy Booklet presents an overview of innovation policy priorities in the SEE partner regions. These priorities were identified from national and regional policy documents and contrasted with the strategic priorities for innovation identified by the European Commission. From this comparative analysis six key issues emerged as common across the policy agendas:

• Innovation in Services
• Public Procurement
• Collaborative Clusters & Networks
• Lead Markets & Eco-innovation
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Broadening the Scope of Innovation

For each of these priorities, the SEE Policy Booklet outlines the drivers and obstacles for enhancing the performance of regional innovation policy, explores how design can be used to address the issue, provides illustrative case studies and puts forward policy proposals.

This is the first of four SEE Policy Booklets to be published between 2009 and 2011. If you would like to receive future SEE Policy Booklets please email info@seeproject.org.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

SEE

Sharing Experience Europe – Policy, Innovation & Design

SEE is a network of eleven European partners sharing knowledge and experience on how design can be integrated into regional and national policies to boost innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and social and economic development. The aim is to pool knowledge, share experiences, stimulate debate, develop new thinking and build rapport and credibility in order to influence policy. The project’s activities include: opening and closing conferences; thematic workshops involving partners and policy-makers; a study visit; a library of case studies; policy proposal booklets; an internal contacts database and the biannual SEE bulletin.

SEE is operating from September 2008 to June 2011, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG IVC programme. Design Wales is the project’s lead partner. The Centre for Design Innovation at IT Sligo is one of five Policy Recommendation Research Partners on the project.