Summer 2014 Came Early To Cardiff Last Week!

Last week Design Wales Forum had the great pleasure of hosting a trend seminar at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. The trends were presented by Matthew Jeatt of trend forecasting house Promostyl and covered Spring/Summer 2014.

So what does Spring Summer 2014 look like for fashion and textiles? Four trends were mooted. There were some common threads amongst the trends. The colour pallets revealed jewel like colours, raw metallics, strong pinks contrasted with pale watery pallets and washed out limestones. Key concepts within the trends will also have opposing energies. The vigour and energy of protest contrasted with minimalist restraint. A move towards decorative opulence supporting the continuing trend towards artisan made products.


As ever Matthew was a captivating speaker, holding his energy after a marathon of 4 and half hours of speaking. Matthew tells us he enjoyed meeting with the Design Wales audience again, meeting up with old friends and making some new ones.

The audience look through Promostyl's S/S 2014 trend books

Design Wales wins Core77 Design Award

Wow! We have some amazing news to share… Design Wales' very own Service Design Programme has won the Core77 Design Award 2012 (service design category). The Core77 Deisgn International design awards are presented for “excellence in all areas of design enterprise, the Core77 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and its practitioners”. The jury, made up of academics and practicioners in service design and based in New York explained why were awarded this prestigious award which was won last year by IDEO for their highly acclaimed OpenIDEO platform; “This is a well-structured programme for raising awareness of service design and advocating for it to both industry and the design field. The blend of (and interaction between) the programme’s online and offline elements seems well thought-out. The programme appears to be more government-driven than demand/user-driven; thus, the jury would have liked to see the designers place heavier emphasis on employing the design processes they are promoting. The jury applauds the impact the programme has achieved since launch, and looks forward to following its progress.” We hope that this award will showcase the efforts of the Welsh Government in supporting design-led service innovation and present the programme to an international audience. We also can’t wait to get hold of the trophy and see our work in the 2012 awards gallery on Core77. Thanks to… Special thanks go to The Welsh Government for funding the programme, View Creative for designing the brand and initial marketing material, FK Create for developing the Service Test, S8080 for creating this website and the explainer animation, On-Par Productions for editing our SD4D videos and everyone else that has supported the programme to this point. To find out more about the Core77 Design Awards go to: www.core77designawards.com/2012

SEE Platform launched by Welsh First Minister

First Minister of the Welsh Government, Rt. Hon Carwyn Jones AM

On the 18th June the First Minister of the Welsh Government, Rt. Hon Carwyn Jones, attended the first workshop of the SEE Platform to officially launch this new European network project.

In his remarks to officially launch the SEE Platform the First Minister highlighted the role of design in innovation and economic competitiveness, describing how Welsh companies had found success through design.

His remarks are timely as the Welsh Government is currently undertaking a consultation on future innovation strategy, within which we hope design will play a significant role. Design Wales will be contributing to the consultation and you can too until 23rd July via the  Welsh Government website.

SEE is a network of 11 European partners, from design and innovation centres along with economic development offices, who have agreed to share their experience to enhance the understanding of design for innovation among policy-makers and programme managers. Over three years SEE will monitor design policy developments across Europe,  support policy-makers looking to more effectively integrate design into innovation policy and engage with 100 regions that have not previously had design as part of their economic, public service or social development programmes.

Service Design in Wales

These interviews were conducted with four companies following the completion of the SD4D (Service Design for Designers) programme by Design Wales. Each interview was conducted between May-June 2012 and features the directors of leading agencies from Wales, including; Michelle Rose-Innes, Julian Sanders, Luke Khan, Huw David.

Design Wales Service Innovation Initative short listed for a Design Week 2012 award

We’re really pleased to announce that our Service Essentials workshop for business has been short listed for the 2012 Design Week Awards in the category of service design. The prestigious awards are judged this year by senior design managers from companies such as; Virgin Atlantic, British Heart Foundation and Fitch.

To find out more about how we are supporting service design in Wales take a look at the programme website: www.theservicedesignprogramme.org

This is the first time that service design has been recognised in the 2012 Design Week Awards, so it’s great to see the practice covered at this level within the more traditional design disciplines such as product design, branding and graphic design.

When we started the pushing service design in Wales we applied the same thinking to our programme about understanding our users, designing it with them and then prototyping many of the touchpoints we created. In doing so we believe we have added real value and provide a well designed service for those businesses engaging with us, it’s great to see that others think so too.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 13th June 2012, you can view the full list of short listed projects here.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 13th June 2012, you can view the full list of short listed projects here.

Co-Design Policy Workshop - Brussels

Design Wales took part in the Co-Design Policy Workshop in Brussels organised by the European Design Innovation Initiative (EDII). The EDII is coordinated by the European Commission to help understand the role design can play in future European innovation policies and must produce recommendations in June this year - this workshop was part of that process.

Led by Chritian Bason of Mind Lab in Denmark the list of 69 attendees included designers, architects, design & innovation centres, academics and policy makers from right across Europe. The three key challenges set for the day were;

• The design innovation process for the benefit of society, enterprisesand the public sector.
• How to develop Europes design competencies and knowledge for the twenty first century.
• How to valorise design & "Made in Europe".

The ideas produced will now be sorted, reviewed and distributed to the attendees before some of them hopefully find their way into the recommendations made in June and ultimatly into future European policy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are recruiting a service designer

We are currently recruiting for a service designer to join our team here at Design Wales and support the delivery of our service design programme. It's a great place to work and an excellent opportunity to play a role in building the kills, expertise and knowledge in service design across Wales.

Job description

The project has so far ensured that Wales is ahead of the adoption curve in providing a service design support programme for industry and unique in developing a regional service design capability; thereby also strengthening the Welsh creative industries. The project also provides a comprehensive support programme for industry through activities that include promotional seminars, intensive workshops with small groups, one to one support and on-line resources.

The post holder must have a strong and broad understanding of the effective use of design, solid visualisation and communication skills and be willing to support the wider activities of Design Wales in relation to service design. The ideal candidate will have experience of working as a service design practitioner within an agency and/or within industry.

If you are interested in applying for this role, full details can be found here: http://www3.cardiffmet.ac.uk

European Design Innovation Initiative Project Approval

We were very pleased to hear today that we have been successful in our project proposal made under the 1st action of the European Design Innovation Initiative (EDII) by the European Commission. "Thank you" to all of our partners in helping to put this exciting project together.

The project will continue some of the activities of the previous SEE Project but also broaden its scope with ten other partners across Europe to build a new pan-European SEE Platform that will engage with regional and national organisations currently active in innovation support and policy and help to build their understanding and use of design for user-centred innovation.

The partners for the new SEE Platform are:

Design Wales / Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK)
Design Flanders (BE)
Regional Development Agency of South Bohemia-RERA (CZ)
Danish Design Centre (DK)
Estonian Design Centre (EE)
Aalto University, School of Art & Design / Designium (FI)
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (FI)
Business and Cultural Development Centre (KEPA) (GR)
Border, Midlands and West Assembly (IE)
Castle Cieszyn (PL)
Design Council (UK)


There is still some paperwork to do before the project can be officially launched - when this is done we will let you know.

UK Design Alliance Meeting in Cardiff

Gavin Cawood (Design Wales), Kathryn Woolf (Cornwall Design Forum) and Roger Procter (South West Design Forum)

Jocelyn Bailey Policy Connect sharing her tips for connecting policy makers with design.

Colin McKeown of the Northern Ireland Design Alliance and Alison Merrifield of the Sector Skills Alliance

On the 26th January Design Wales hosted a meeting of the UK Design Alliance (UKDA) for the second time in Cardiff. The UKDA is a partnership of national and regional stakeholders who come together to strengthen the UK design sector. Such as through our work via the Design Wales Forum many of the active  members are regional design networks who are engaging with the UKDA to both understand how they can influence the national design agenda and to provide a voice for the design sector in their region.

The meeting discussed strategies for keeping design on the local political agenda. Jocelyn Bailey of Policy Connect was invited to share some successful strategies she had witnessed, of ways of connecting policy makers with design. Gavin Cawood of Design Wales and Colin McKeown of the Northern Ireland Design Alliance shared their experiences of trying to keep design on their local political agenda. Gavin discussed outcomes of the Design Wales manifesto and petition and a debate in the Sennedd where design was added to the innovation agenda. Colin talked through the Northern Ireland Design Alliance's future ambitions and how Design Wales had supported them in lobbying their government about design.


In further understanding the needs of the design sector Anna Whicher (Design Wales) presented an analysis of design sector skills reports developed by The Design Council and Creative and Cultural Skills while Victoria Jones (Design Wales) presented the results of a survey of UKDA members. A discussion followed where Design Wales agreed to send out an updated version of the survey, asking UKDA members to highlight content and resources that they are willing to share, sell or that they need in order to highlight the economic benefits of design to business.

Design Wales are to host the UKDA for a twelve month period, after which it is hoped another regional forum or organisation will facilitate the activities of the partnership. Still organised by Design Wales, the next meeting is to take place in Birmingham on the 23rd May.

Design Management Europe Award - Board meeting in Brussels

The Kings House, Grand Place, Brussels.

Representing the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR), where Design Wales is based, last week we attended the latest Board meeting for the Design Management Europe Award (DME). Members of the Board from PDR, The European Design Centre, Dutch Design Week and The Red Dot Award gathered in Brussels to discuss proposals for the Design Management Award 2012.
To be formally launched later in the Spring, the DME Award will this year be hosted in Portugal with the judging, presentations and final award ceremony being shared between two cities; Viana de Castelo and Guimaraes.
PDR are one of the founding consortia members behind the DME Award and provide the analysis of the annual entries that come organisations across Europe that range from local micro businesses to multi-national corporations in the private sector as well as those in the public sector.

Service Design Workshop for Design Silesia

 

For most of this week we have a group from Silesia (Poland) here in Cardiff attending a workshop on how to run design-led innovation projects in public services.
The group includes Polish designers and representatives from Design Silesia, who, as part of the Silesian Marshall's Office, are supporting the project. In delivering the programme of training for the Polish designers Design Wales invited Age Cymru into the workshops to provide a real project case study that the delegation will work on to develop their understanding and use of service design tools. At the end of the week the group will return to Silesia to work with three target public services but continue to have support from the Design Wales service design programme as their live projects develop.
With a similar industrial heritage and economic objectives for the future the Welsh Government and the Region of Silesia have a long-standing Memorandum of Understanding to work together and on their first day the group were formally welcomed to Wales by the office of the First Minister from the Welsh Government.


Design Silesia identified this opportunity to work together after hearing about the service design programme that was launched by Design Wales in July 2010. With support from the Welsh Government the service design programme provides both an advisory service to manufactures as well as building capacity for service design in the Welsh design sector.

Looking for a design manager

The PDR Building in Cardiff

Design Wales are looking for a new member of staff with experience of design management to help us advise businesses in Wales (particularly SMEs) how they might best manage design.

Based at our offices in the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR) at Cardiff Metropolitan University this is going to be a fixed-term post that runs until 31st July 2015.

Full details of the post (title: Design Advisor-Design Management) and application forms will be available from next Tuesday 17th January via www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/jobs

If you have any questions about the post then please e-mail gcawood@designwales.org

SEE Design Policy Monitor

Design Wales has been leading the SEE project since 2008. SEE has been sharing international best practice to integrate design into innovation policies and programmes. A key initiative has been to examine innovation and design policies and programmes developments between 2009 and 2011. The results are in and we present the SEE Design Policy Monitor, which reveals the scope and depth of policy provisions for design an innovation in the partner regions/countries.

Design policy has been a hot topic recently with the results of the European Commission’s call for projects as part of the European Design Innovation Initiative expected in January 2012, BIS publishing the UK’s Innovation and Research Strategy including design for innovation and the Design Council event ‘Should government have a design strategy?’.

As part of the Design Policy Monitor, we examined the innovation policies for the EU’s 27 Member States, which revealed that 17 out 27 have design included (in some form) in a national level strategy. This demonstrates that in the context of economic renewal, design is being recognised as a driver of innovation. On 8 December, the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills published their Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth with an entire section devoted to design for innovation. Here are some key quotes:

‘Design can be transformative for companies, through leading or supporting product and process innovation, for managing the innovation process itself, for the commercialisation of science, and the delivery of public services.’ P. 35

‘Design thinking can play an important role in strengthening the public sector’s capacity to be an intelligent customer as it involves bringing together different perspectives, including industry and users of a service or product, to understand needs. The use of design can deliver cost savings and improved efficiency in the delivery of public services and help to generate solutions to societal challenges.’ P. 85

The role of design in the new strategy was presented by a representative of BIS at the Design Council policy event on 1 December. Gavin Cawood also presented an overview of the state of play for design policy across Europe. The videos are available on the Design Council website.

Design Wales and SEE will continue to monitor policies for innovation and design over the next few years to examine new trends in the future at European, national and regional levels.

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.”