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Revolutionising design planning and management

Summary of the impact

Between 1992 and 2002, Loughborough University invented an award-winning approach to planning complex, highly interdependent development projects. Since 2008 the Analytical Design Planning Technique (ADePT) method has resulted in:

  1. A sustainable spin-out business (Adept Management Ltd) employing 10 staff with a £6.2 million turnover, providing ADePT services to the majority of the UK's top construction contractors — the business is run by four ex-researchers who were integral to the development of ADePT at Loughborough University;
  2. Formation of an Adept Management Ltd technology arm in 2008 providing a state-of-the-art commercial design planning software package incorporating enhancements to the method;
  3. Establishment of a US office in 2009 and growth in the number of international clients in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Africa; and as a result
  4. Application on projects valuing £11 billion since 2008, with higher levels of cost and time certainty, fewer delays and less waste due to improved design management.

Submitting Institution

Loughborough University

Unit of Assessment

Architecture, Built Environment and Planning

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Engineering: Civil Engineering
Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management
Economics: Applied Economics

The development of professional in-house design capability for Fairfield Displays & Lighting Ltd., China Industries Ltd., and Tough Furniture Ltd.

Summary of the impact

This case study is based on research and impact of the development of creative systems and creative systems management to enhance professional in-house design capabilities of design and manufacturing companies through the use of new technologies. The research was conducted by Dave Henley and Rob Cooksey over the duration of several years (2008-2012) to develop the transferable application of design systems and management for SMEs. The research included three different Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) with Fairfield Displays & Lighting Ltd., China Industries Ltd., and Tough Furniture Ltd. The research evidences impact in the development of the companies' creative capabilities through significant increases in turnover, employment and market penetration and a number of awards, as well as in public benefits such as social inclusion, community health and well-being.

Submitting Institution

University of Wolverhampton

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Engineering: Manufacturing Engineering
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management

The user- centred management of innovation in two SMEs

Summary of the impact

Green and Lilley's research on the management of innovation within creative organisations, with a specific focus on people-centred and socio-technical systems design of digital technology, has benefitted two companies significantly through two knowledge-transfer partnerships. One company — Bulb - more than doubled its staff numbers from 8 to 18 and increased turnover from £700,000 to £1.2 million. This research contributed to the basis for a new company — CrowdLab - now worth £1.5 million. Both companies have been short-listed for a number of awards, one recently winning the 2013 Leicester Mercury Innovative Company category. The School has embraced the University's Knowledge Exchange provision to respond effectively to the Government's economic development agenda which has placed HEIs `centre stage' to deliver private-sector led innovation and economic recovery.

Submitting Institution

University of Leicester

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management

Improving strategic design management competence in small and medium sized companies through action and case-study research

Summary of the impact

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:

  • assisted over 300 companies (compared with 70+ in 2003-2008);
  • established 21 new businesses;
  • built a network of 400 companies;
  • secured over £3m of grant funding; and
  • been instrumental in shifting company culture from cost-driven to value-added.

Submitting Institution

Birmingham City University

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration

Design thinking

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

Open University

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Inclusive design

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management
Education: Specialist Studies In Education

Design and Knowledge Transfer Partnership collaborations

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Northampton

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems
Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management

Designing for Emotional Durability

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Brighton

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Anthropology
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Visual Arts and Crafts

Software Integration and Visualisation for Complex Electrical Motor Design Programming, Simulation and Modelling

Summary of the impact

Research was undertaken into practical methodologies for integrating disparate engineering design software packages, including techniques for managing data in different formats and package functionality available through varying programming models. There was an emphasis on usability for end users allowing a complex solution to be built without advanced programming experience or technical understanding of the underlying packages. The results were made available through a commercial software package marketed by an SME, successfully contributing to a significant increase in company profile, modified internal working procedures and an expanded portfolio of services available to customers. The final product has only recently appeared on the market, but to good review, promising early sales and projections of significant sales and increased turnover.

Submitting Institution

Glyndŵr University

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics, Computer Software, Information Systems

Aynsley China Research and Impact via Flux Stoke on Trent

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

Staffordshire University

Unit of Assessment

Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Built Environment and Design: Design Practice and Management

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