Featured Speaker

A New Horizon for design?

Michael Thomson, Director, Design Connect. London; Independent design strategist, consultant and facilitator

The European Commission is in the throes of delivering its framework program to 2020 within the context of Europe’s strategic vision document, "Europe 2020" and the “Innovation Union” flagship that sits within it. The commission has now brought all of its previous program funding into one big pot. And this is a very, very large pot—some €82 billion has been earmarked for innovation. Thanks to the early work of the Bureau of European Design Associations in introducing design to the Commission as a matter for policy at the European level, and the current workings of the Commission’s own European Design Leadership Board, (which will issue recommendations in June 2012), there is a unique opportunity to unlock unprecedented levels of funding for the growth and development of design across Europe. But are we thinking clearly enough and big enough to grasp this opportunity?

Biography: Michael Thomson

Qualified in 3D design in Northern Ireland and Germany, Michael set up Design Connect in London in 1995. Since then he has shaped and facilitated design-led, strategy thinking for an international client list including, on the client side, Dyson in the UK, Tupperware in the US, and Samsung C+T in South Korea; and with design consultancies including CityID, MetaDesign, IconMedialab, Futurebrand London, CBS Denmark, and Vidale Gloesener in Luxembourg.

An expert on national design policy, Michael has worked with governments and their national and regional design promotion bodies in the UK, Asia, Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Qatar. Michael initiated and led the introduction of design as a key policy issue for the European Commission and managed the lobbying process with BEDA (The Bureau of European Design Associations) that helped to drive the inclusion of design into Europe’s innovation strategy for the first time in 2010. He served as BEDA President from 2007-2009.

Michael previously served on the Board of Icsid, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design from 2001-2005.

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