SEE nominated for RegioStars award!

The SEE project, led by Design Wales, has been nominated for RegioStars – the awards for regional innovative projects.

SEE is a network of 11 European partners sharing knowledge and experience on how design can be integrated into regional and national policies to boost innovation, sustainability, social and economic development. The aim of SEE is to pool knowledge, share experiences, stimulate debate, develop new thinking and build rapport and credibility in order to influence policy at regional and national levels to integrate design. The project’s ultimate goal is to integrate design into innovation policies. This work is focused on creating better conditions for SMEs to operate, developing innovation and making use of design resources.

‘The objective of the RegioStars Awards is to identify good practices in regional development and to highlight original and innovative projects which could be attractive and inspiring to other regions.’ We were invited to submit an application under the category ‘networking initiatives supporting regional growth and SMEs’, stating how far our project objectives have been met, the strategic context of the project, highlighting the innovative character of the project and the impact.

Our objective to ‘compare strategies and delivery of design support programmes, in particular those related to the development of innovative products and services’ directly links to the project’s impact on SMEs. During SEE’s lifespan there has been a continuous debate about good practices to deliver design support for SMEs, an activity all partners undertake in their regions. The next project workshop (November 2010) will focus on support programmes for SMEs, in addressing a route to market for their innovative ideas. Concrete results are expected from the exchange of experiences/policy recommendations drawn from the workshop. Results so far have been incremental, as result of the exchange of experiences.

We will keep you informed of our progress in the application process….