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In late 2010 Professor Sanderson decided to form the Flux ceramics spin-out company at Staffordshire University in order to exploit a significant market gap he had discovered via his KTP research project for Aynsley China Ltd., Stoke-on-Trent. Flux has been able to exploit the market gap discovered in a way that Aynsley China was unwilling to pursue. Flux has produced cutting edge ceramic tableware design that has been successful in terms of both sales and recognition as a valuable contribution to contemporary tableware design. Flux won the Home and Gardens Design Award in 2012.
This case study describes the impact of research in Design Management and Product Design carried out by the Design Research Group at the University of Northampton in embedding design competencies in a number of British companies, particularly in the Northampton region through inter-related, collaborative Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). This case study demonstrates how the research in Product Design and Design Management has benefited companies economically in adding value to the UK economy, and as a consequence of one particular KTP, significantly improving quality of life.
Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) has researched the extent and effectiveness of design management in companies for over 15 years. The research has combined an academic analysis with a practice based approach where findings have been implemented through a succession of industry-facing, large-scale, externally funded projects.
Through this sustained activity, design tools, methods and support strategies have been developed, delivered, tested and disseminated internationally. Additionally, the experiences are fed back into the continuing research that underpins the practical activity.
Since 2008, BIAD's business-facing projects have:
The i~design research programme, which has been running in the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering (DoEng) since 2000, sought to understand population diversity in order to better inform design decisions for mainstream everyday products and services. Impact from this programme, since 2008, includes: skills embedded in companies through direct training of over 280 designers and design managers from industry; direct involvement in the improved design of more than 10 new products and services that have gone into production; educational resources for teaching Design and Technology trialled in nine secondary schools; over 800 wearable impairment simulators sold; and extensive web-based guidance, methods and tools for inclusive design accessed in over 170 countries.
Since 1989, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) has spearheaded a comprehensive seating design research programme that has resulted in specific and recognisable outputs and impacts.
Key areas of knowledge have been developed through:
The research has resulted in multiple innovations demonstrated through registered designs. All designs have been licensed to UK companies for the purposes of manufacture and distribution. From January 2008 to end June 2013, sales have comprised more than 30,000 seating units across three continents.
Research at Kingston University led by Hilary Dalke has established the beneficial effects of colour design for application in long-term health care environments for people with neural disabilities. This work has led to the development of spatial design principles for improving the experience of service users, patients and staff.
Through her consultancy work with architectural firms, individual NHS hospitals, mental health units, independent charities and healthcare furniture and equipment suppliers such as Hill-Rom, Dalke has influenced their understanding of the issues involved, leading to improved design in hospitals, care homes and day centres, with consequent benefits for patients, staff and visitors in four institutions.
Work by Carmona et al has supported the national drive for better design in the built environment, helping to mainstream ideas about the importance of urban design and develop tools for design governance. A major strand of this research has focused on the use and potential of design codes in England, and has been a major contributor to their widespread adoption. As a result, by 2012, some 45% of local authorities and 66% of urban design consultants had used design codes.
Design thinking has benefited the economic performance of business and particularly the creative industries, changed awareness of design in everyday life, and informed public policy. Users and consumers have benefited from wider understanding of the genesis of products and services and effects on their quality of life. Design thinking research has been instrumental in forming a new business sector that provides design thinking expertise as consultancy. It has changed the processes of designers and design practices, and fed into UK design education policy. Design thinking has crossed discipline boundaries; for example framing new methods and processes in software engineering.
Professor Martin Charter has directed The Centre for Sustainable Design ® at UCA since 1999. During this time he has developed a body of research concerning sustainable and eco-innovation, and sustainable and eco-design, with a particular focus on organisational implementation within business. This has led to a widespread programme of dissemination and application to SMEs through funded projects, publications, consultancy and training. The specific beneficiaries of this research are the SMEs through these projects, guidance and training.
CHAPMAN's research into emotionally durable design has radically shifted the values and practices of global businesses, helping them to cut waste and to enhance product, material and brand value. Through publications, exhibitions, master-classes and films, this research has transformed understanding of sustainable design in professional (Puma, Sony), policy (House of Lords, UN) and cultural (Design Museum, New Scientist) settings, propelling the field beyond its focus on energy and materials, towards deeper engagements that link psychosocial phenomena with ideas about consumption and waste. Furthermore, it has contributed to public debate and policy with the effect that the term `emotional durability' has now entered the international design lexicon, providing valuable shorthand for complex phenomena influencing product longevity.