News
Issue date - 05 September 2006
Featured - Design Council Press Release
Title - Design Council launches pioneering design support programme for business
A pioneering support programme for businesses which aims to help them become more competitive, increase their profits and boost their performance through the effective use of design is launched by the Design Council today.
Developed by the Design Council and delivered by Regional Development Agencies, the Designing Demand programme aims to help local SMEs sharpen their competitive edge so that they can compete nationally and globally.
The Design Council has built up a solid body of evidence proving that design is a key driver of business growth and competitiveness which has the power to transform business strategy, decision-making and practice at every level.
It has invested £4 million over the past four years to develop, test and package effective and proven products and services that transform the use of design by SMEs – whether they are start-ups, established businesses or commercialising new technologies.
The resulting programme, Designing Demand, consists of a range of services – from a practical introduction to design to more in-depth packages -which are tailored to meet the demands of all SMEs:
Designing Demand Workshops: fast-paced and practical, showing SMEs what design investment could do for them
Designing Demand Accelerate: an intensive kick start service to help both established businesses and start-ups get a design project moving
Designing Demand Innovate: sustained support especially tailored for technology businesses
Designing Demand Immerse: the most intensive of the Designing Demand services for established businesses
David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council, said: ‘Companies that have integrated design into their business are much less likely to compete on price, more likely to be innovative, more likely to grow their turnover, and overall more likely to have a sharp competitive edge. Yet too many SMEs use design badly or not at all. Designing Demand will make sure that SMEs know how to get the best out of working with a design supplier to make a real difference to their bottom line.’
Last year the government’s Cox Review warned that many UK businesses are facing a competitive disadvantage due to a serious shortage of creativity; and in his budget statement earlier this year the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown urged regional development agencies to adopt the Designing Demand national business programme to help SMEs compete both nationally and globally.
Sir George Cox, Chairman of the Design Council, said: ‘Recent research shows that every £100 a business spends on design increases turnover by £225. We need to focus on finding ways in which the UK can increasingly use design to add value to its products and services in order to differentiate them in highly competitive markets. The UK is a world leader in the design industry and has an outstanding record of innovation. Exploiting this creativity will be the key to global competitiveness.’
Notes to Editors
1. Designing Demand is a national design support programme developed by the Design Council and delivered by Regional Development Agencies.
2. The Design Council is the UK’s national strategic body for design. It aims to strengthen and support the economy and society by demonstrating and promoting the vital role of design in making businesses more competitive and public services more effective.
3. The Cox Review of Creativity in Business, published for Gordon Brown’s Pre-Budget Report, is concerned with ensuring that UK businesses – SMEs and modern manufacturers in particular - apply creativity and design to improve their productivity and performance. Gordon Brown commissioned the report in Budget 2005, having recognised the impact design and creativity has on the success of business.