Design Wales Launches Service Design Website

The Service Design Programme is an initiative developed by Design Wales to help the manufacturing and creative industries apply the latest service innovation techniques to their businesses.

There is a dedicated website for this programme with case studies, project news, service design resources. You can reach this website here: www.testyourservice.co.uk

Service Test App

The site also includes an on-line tool that companies can use to check the quality and cost of their service. It is often the starting point for companies that want to improve their service but simply don't know where to start. Try it for yourself here: www.testyourservice.co.uk/app

Case studies

One company that we have seen service design make a big impact in Aggrelek, an advanced manufacturer from Swansea, you can read all about how they have benefited from the programme here: www.testyourservice.co.uk/blog/news/aggrelek-case-study

Next steps for the Design Wales manifesto & petition

At the Cardiff Design Festival 2010, Design Wales launched the Design for Innovation in Wales Manifesto and Petition. The petition has been discussed in four Petition Committee meetings to date and Design Wales has had the opportunity to engage with Lesley Griffiths, the Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills. Recently, Design Wales was invited by the Petitions Committee to identify where further action can be taken to realise the aims of the manifesto and petition. On 12 July, the Assembly Members agreed to raise our requests at the Welsh Government's Enterprise and Business Committee.

Read the submission to the Petitions Committee by Design Wales below:

Design is gaining recognition around the world as a driver of innovation in industry, services and society. Design is a problem-solving process. It is an approach to innovation that is user-centred, creative and viable.

The European Commission strategy Innovation Union identifies design as a key discipline for innovation in the private sector for bringing products and services to market, in the public sector for making public services better correspond to citizens needs as well as for addressing social challenges:

‘Our strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited. We must champion social innovation. We must develop a better understanding of public sector innovation. Design is of particular importance as a key discipline to bring ideas to the market, transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products.’

To raise awareness and understanding of this strategic role for design among politicians, policy-makers and the public in Wales, in October 2010, Design Wales launched a Manifesto and Petition. The Petition gained 369 signatures and called for the National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Government to consider the role of design in future policies and programmes for innovation, public services and social enterprise. The Manifesto recommendations were met with overwhelming support when on 5 October 2010 Assembly Members unanimously passed an amendment to the strategy Economic Renewal to ‘harness the power of design for innovation in industry, services and society’. In response to the Petitions Committee request to provide insight into where further action can be taken, Design Wales has identified how design can play a strategic role in contributing to the Welsh Government’s policy priorities:

• Creative industries

• Manufacturing and service industries

• Public services

• Education

• Social enterprise

Creative industries

In 2008, the Creative and Cultural Skills (Sector Skills Council) published the economic ‘footprint’ of the creative industries revealing that the professional design sector in Wales accounts for the greatest proportion (22%) of Wales’ creative industries. In addition, the creative industries contribute £465M to the Welsh economy, of which 36% is generated by design. However, the strategic contribution of design to the creative industries was overlooked in the ‘Heart of Digital Wales’ review in favour of music and broadcasting. Since the Economic Renewal programme identifies the creative industries as a priority sector of strategic importance for the Welsh economy and as design constitutes a significant driver of competitiveness, design merits better representation in policy discussions. Design Wales calls for design to have a representative on both the Digital Wales Board and the Economic Renewal Creative Industries Sector Panel to champion the role of design within the creative industries in Wales to support the development of this important professional sector.

Manufacturing and service industries

In Economic Renewal, the Welsh Government encourages businesses, particularly the advanced manufacturing sector, to invest in design to develop new products . While this commitment represents a significant step, the interpretation of design is limited to product development; this does not reflect the broader strategic role attributed to design in Innovation Union where design is also a driver of innovation in services. Service innovation has been identified by the European Commission as an area of increasing importance in the coming decade . Those products proving most successful in competitive markets are those integrated into an advanced customer experience with intelligent services adding value to the product itself. The Welsh Government is already supporting the Service Design Programme delivered to the advanced manufacturing sector and could play a role in raising demand for innovation in services across Wales. Design Wales calls for the Welsh Government to examine the role of design in service innovation and attribute a more strategic role to design in the Economic Renewal Programme.

Public services

Design is proving itself as a process for delivering more efficient public services since it involves both the service provider and the service user (citizens) in an engaging process of identifying inefficiencies and proposing solutions that are creative, user-centred and viable. The Welsh Government is examining more effective public service delivery as part of the New Models of Service Delivery Work Stream. However, since design has not been articulated as a priority by the Welsh Government, design is not one of the models under consideration. Design Wales calls for the New Models of Service Delivery Work Stream to consider the role of design in delivering more citizen-focused public services.

Education

The Dyson report identifies design as a bridge between the STEM subjects. ‘To a large extent, the STEM agenda has also ignored the silent D (design). Used as a tool to make products a reality, design links engineering to business and the end-user. At school level, design and technology should receive the same priority status as science and maths’ as design is the subject that combines analytical and practical skills. Design Wales calls for the Welsh Government to recognise design as the link between the STEM subjects and integrate design into the STEM curriculum.

Social enterprise

As a dynamic tool, design is a process for addressing social challenges. Social enterprises should be citizen-centred and the Welsh Government has made a commitment to further this agenda in the Social Enterprise Action Plan for Wales . By involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders in creative processes, design can enable citizens to come up with their own solutions for social enterprises. Design Wales calls for design to play a role in Social Enterprise Action Plan programmes.

In order to make these ambitions for design a reality, Design Wales is supporting four Assembly Members in establishing a Cross-Party Group for Design and Innovation. The aim of the Design and Innovation Cross-Party Group is to raise and maintain awareness at a policy and programme level of the role of design in realising innovation within industry (for competitive advantage), public services (for greater efficiency and citizen focus) and social innovation (for greater public participation).

Design Wales are currently active in communicating the role of design in innovation policy by leading a European network of 11 organisations since 2008 called SEE. Speaking at the SEE project’s Policy, Innovation and Design Conference in the Flemish Parliament in March 2011, Peter Dröll, Head of Unit the Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry stated that “Our vision would be that in 2020, design is a fully acknowledged, well-known, well-recognised element of innovation policy across Europe, at the European level, at the national level and at regional level”.

Wales has the opportunity to be regional forerunners in championing the design for innovation agenda and Design Wales is committed to enabling the Welsh Government make this happen. Design Wales calls for design to be recognised both horizontally across Welsh Government policies as well as vertically at policy, programme and project levels. Design Wales calls for the Welsh Government to develop a vision for design in Wales as has been articulated by the Danish Government.

to read the transcript of the meeting click here.

SEE launches Policy Booklet 4

The SEE project, led by Design Wales, has recently launched SEE Policy Booklet 4, which examines the role of design in bringing innovative ideas to market in the context of i) new product and service development; ii) design support for SMEs and iii) national design systems.

i) 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.

ii) Section two describes the lessons learnt during the course of the SEE project in delivering design support programmes focused on enabling industry to develop new products and services.

iii) 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.

SEE are RegioStars Finalists

On 23 June 2011, Design Wales attended the RegioStars award ceremony hosted by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, in the Bozar, Brussels. The SEE project, led by Design Wales, was short listed as finalists for the 2011 award and although we did not win, the feedback from the judges was very positive:

“This is an interesting policy-building project in a forward-looking area – design as a source of innovation. Its broad partnership and EU endorsement gives credibility to the statement that it paves the way towards new innovation policies, suited to regions outside the Science and Technology hubs.”

SEE was nominated for the award by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO). WEFO Director, Damien O'Brien said that being named RegioStars finalists is an excellent achievement. Wales did not come back empty handed as the ‘Growth in environmental marine science’ (GEMS) project were named winners!

Design Wales also had the opportunity to engage with the Deputy Minister for European Programmes, Alun Davies AM and discuss plans to establish the cross-party group for design and innovation in the National Assembly. We will provide an update about the cross-party group soon!

SEE, a network of eleven European partners sharing experience on how to integrate design into regional, national and European innovation policies, co-financed by ERDF through INTERREG IVC.

Design Wales Forum visits The South West Design Forum

Media and Innovation Awards in Plymouth


Design Wales Forum was able to secure some funding from the HEFCW SIP Programme fund to make a  visit with South West Design Forum. The Strategic Insight Programme (SIP) was launched to help university staff develop and build relationships with external partner organisations. Design Wales Forum is currently looking at ways to create a sustainable model for the forum. The visit with South West Design Forum enabled Design Wales Forum co-ordinator Victoria Jones to open a dialogue between the South West Design Forum and Design Wales Forum. A further meeting has been arranged in order to discuss future potential for collaboration.

During her visit Victoria shadowed Tim Burley chair of the South West Design Forum. She attended the Media and Innovation Summit, the South West Design Forum AGM and the Media and Innovation Awards.

"This was an opportunity to gain insight of another design organisation: how it is structured and how its activites are run. The only way to have gained this information was by spending time with them." Victoria Jones, Design Wales Forum.

SEE project launches sixth bulletin

The SEE bulletin seeks to contribute to the growing interest in design policy across Europe and beyond. With the debate gathering pace (particularly in light of the European Design Innovation Initiative), SEE continues to provide strategic insight based on the shared experience of the partners. SEE has been examining the role of design in innovation policy for the past three years and this edition reflects the changes we have seen in that time. Highlights include:

• Research: How Policies Matter to Design (Dr Qian Sun)
• Interviews: Design Policy and Promotion Map (Estonia, Finland, Italy and South Korea).
• Special Reports: SEE Project’s Policy, Innovation and Design Conference. Dublin’s Bid for World Design Capital 2014.
• Case Studies: Service Design Programme (Wales, UK) and Design and Business Concepts that Merge (Argentina).
• SEE Legacy: Next Steps for the SEE Project.

The SEE bulletin is the only publication entirely dedicated to exploring matters related to design policies and programmes for design support. It is published by Design Wales, lead partner of the SEE project and is distributed to over 60 countries.

SEE is a network of 11 European partners exploring how to integrate design into regional and national innovation policies. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVC programme. An electronic copy of the bulletin is available to download from the SEE website: www.seeproject.org/publications.

Commission announces Leadership Board for the European Design Innovation Initiative

After much speculation, the European Commission has announced the 15 members of the European Design Innovation Initiative (EDII):

- BEDA - Bureau of European Design Associations - Deborah Dawton, President
- UEAPME – European Association of craft, small and medium-sized enterprises represented by Gerin Trautenberger, Vice-President of Austrian creative Industries - member of UEAPME
- TAFTIE – the European Network of Innovation Agencies - represented by Andrea Siodmok, Technology Strategy Board - member of TAFTIE
- German Design Council, Andrej Kupetz, Chief Executive Officer
- Barcelona Design Center, Isabel Roig, Directora general
- Hungarian Design Council, Dr. Miklós Bendzsel, Chairman
- Christian Bason, MindLab Copenhagen
- Giovanni Antonio Cocco, Managing Director ISNART S.c.p.A, Istituto Nazionale Ricerche Turistiche
- Rachel Cooper, Professor of Design management, Chair of Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts and Chair of Imagination Lancaster
- Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Chairman of the Committee supporting World Design Capital Helsinki 2012; former President and CEO of Nokia Corporation
- Stefano Marzano, Chief Creative Director, Philips Design
- Klemens Rossnagel, responsible for Design Research Audi Group
- Livia Tirone, TIRONE NUNES, Founder of TIRONES NUNES dedicated to designing and promoting "bio-climatic" & "sustainable buildings"
- Roberto Verganti, Visiting Professor in Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy and Professor in Politecnico di Milano
- Thierry Wasser, Perfumer, Guerlain

The EDII was launched in 2011 by the European Commission as part of the Europe 2020 strategy Innovation Union.

The EDII aims to:
- Raise the awareness of design as a driver of innovation in Europe
- Enhance its role as a key discipline to bring ideas to market transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products, processes or services by enterprises and public services in the EU.

The Board, the Secretariat (Aalto University – Finland) and the European Commission will work together to develop a joint vision to better integrate design into innovation policy.

The first meeting of the Leadership Board took place on 27th May 2011 in Helsinki; Deborah Dawton, BEDA President attended and reports:
“The significance of design in European innovation policy is now established. With 46 organisational members in 23 Member States, BEDA is delighted that its lobbying over the past decade has encouraged the Commission to integrate design as a key driver for Europe’s competitiveness and innovation. The policy is now converting to action and BEDA looks forward to playing a full and active role on the European Design Leadership Board as it continues in its task.”