Your perspectives on design and UK innovation

You are here:

Overview
Your perspectives on this issue

Addressing: Competitiveness in industry

Have your say

Enter your submission here

Name

About you

Occupation (required)

Sector you work in (required)

Where you live (required)

Region - if you live in the UK

How did you hear about us? (required)

The big questions

- How can design help science and technology businesses?

- How does UK design stand up against international competition in the science and technology arena?

- What needs to be done to best integrate design training into science and innovation higher-education where the students may not be used to teaching or speaking in design terms?

- Which examples of science and innovation businesses benefitting from design would you have liked to seen featured in the Sainsbury Review?

Sir George Cox

Former Design Council Chairman

I’m delighted to see ideas developed by the Design Council being taken forward in this review. While we have a great research base in this country, we fall behind our competitors when it comes to exploiting new ideas and taking them to market. These proposals will help to transform our potential to turn ideas in to marketable products, something the UK has to do more effectively if we are to stay competitive in the global economy. If we are really to be an ‘innovation island’, we have to ally our design skills to our scientific capability.

David Godber

Formerly Director, Nissan Design Europe. Now Design Council Deputy Chief Executive

We have secured Nissan's design studio hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in tax relief, [R&D Tax Credits] purely for our design endeavours. This is a tangible demonstration of how the design process can be eligible for research and development support.

David Cobb

Partner, Deloitte R&D Service Line

When people think of R&D they think of science – men in white coats and so on. But a great deal of it is actually at the development end of the spectrum. There’s a degree of design, testing and prototyping that’s essential to creating new products or better products. It’s about demonstrating that you’ve departed from routine practice to do something that’s new, different and not obvious.