Design Council and Isis Innovation
Many technological inventions have started life in a lab, created by researchers or academics in universities. Technologies like NASA's GPS or barcodes needed the technological expertise of academics to make them work, but to make them sell, the academics needed some help. They needed to generate ideas for how their technologies could be used, persuade investors that their technology was a good thing and then market the technology to customers.
This is where design can help. At the moment, technology transfer offices (TTOs) across the UK have little experience of using design and the design community doesn't know about the technology transfer sector as a viable new market.
The perks for designers working with technology start up companies include:
- Early involvement
- The people. You’ll be working the technology creators who know their stuff inside out
- The opportunity to generate totally new ideas
- A market sector that doesn’t yet use design much
- The UK needs an economy based on innovation and science
But despite the possible gains, there are few examples of designers and technology transfer offices working together says David Maddison, a product designer who has worked with the technology transfer office at Oxford University.
Design tools and processes, and designers, can help technology companies. Designers generate ideas, encourage thinking along unexpected lines, research what users might expect from a product or service and design tools can help visualise ideas that aren't yet ready for production.
There’s evidence that if designers are involved at the start of a technology commercialisation project, that it can be as important to new technology as IP protection and more useful than standard market research. And working with a designer needn't be expensive or scary as the three following case studies show.
Designers worked with academics, the creators of the Geni-e smart energy meter, to raise investment and to help them better communicate their vision for a technology that measures the energy use of individual appliances in a home or business.
Read the full story
Designers helped researchers find a market application for their secure laser and optical data transmission technology.
Read the full story here
Design helped the creators of a water spill detection technology to assess its risks, reduce them and increase its commercial value.
Read the full story here
If you have developed a new technology and want to work with a designer to commercialise it, you may not know how to find one. Read our free guide to finding and working with a designer that's right for you.
What do you think?Do you think designers working with technology start-ups is a good idea? Have you done it? How did it work? Let us know what you think designers and TTOs need to know about each other to work well together in the future.
Share your perspective
