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Vol. 15, No. 4, Fall 2004
Gavin Cawood, Senior Design Advisor, Design Wales; Alan Lewis, Director of Research, National Centre for Product Design & Development Research; Gisele Raulik, Strategic Researcher, Design Wales
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Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are a key element of national economies and play a significant role in the design, development, and manufacture of new products. However, their small size makes it difficult for them to maintain a competitive advantage in the international market; they need to be especially receptive to the latest approaches in product design and development.
But SMEs tend to adopt an ad hoc approach to product design, and their resources are limited, as well. Many of them can benefit from outside support to assist them in identifying and deploying new approaches in design. Consequently, a number of countries have developed design support agencies and organizations aimed at SMEs. In May 2004, many of these agencies came together in Cardiff, Wales, at the First International Workshop on Design Support, to discuss how to better promote and facilitate the successful applications of design for their clients.
As these authors-two from Design Wales, and one from the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research, also in Wales-note, the workshop provided an ideal forum for 70 delegates from 15 countries to examine different approaches for each set of national circumstances, economic, social, and political. There were clearly problems that almost every design support initiative faces, and the delegates were happy to share their successes and their difficulties with each other. Cawood, Lewis, and Raulik note that they recorded and transcribed the keynote presentations given at the workshop and organized structured interviews with all the speakers.
Among the countries represented, there was no single model in terms of the provision of design support. Government, academia, and industry were all key players, but their roles and relationships varied from one nation to another. In South Africa, Wales, Korea, and the Czech Republic, national or regional government is the main driver; but in India, the consulting activity of the National Institute of Design (NID), an autonomous national institution for design education, has been in existence since 1961. In Canada, design policy has been concentrated in creating a strong design education infrastructure. And in countries such as the US and Brazil, the government, as the US delegate commented, “is not sponsoring or purchasing design as a big sector of the national economy. So design is very much driven by industry.” However, the authors point out, in such cases, industry itself does not deliver design support programs; rather, it promotes the case for specific design incentives, which are then delivered directly via academia or through governmental action, such as tax incentives.
As far as differences are concerned, the most fundamental appeared to be one of delivery strategy. Here, design support services fell into two categories: those promoting the benefits of design, and those providing practical help through the design process. Interestingly, evidence from the delegates suggested that the strategy of simply promoting design is gradually being abandoned in the face of a more competitive economic scenario. Most of the delegates recommended a mixture of promotion and support: promotion to raise awareness, and support to convince companies to move past the “entry level” of design use. And, of course, funding mechanisms were also discussed.
The authors finish with a description of three successful design support mechanisms: Design Wales, Denmark's Icebreaker Program, and the Design Program of the Czech Republic.
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