What makes the UK an innovation nation?

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Overview
Your perspectives on this issue

Can the Government help make the UK more innovative?

Addressing: Competitiveness in industry, Design Innovation in Public Services

Chris Downs from service design consultancy LiveWork shares his ideas with a group of government officials

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

An ageing population. Technology’s rapid pace of change. Globalisation, global security, global warming. The challenges that face the UK in the coming years are many and complex. Only by harnessing innovation and creativity will we be able to meet these challenges.

The Government has plans to help. Mindful that innovation will be one of the key drivers of prosperity for everyone in the next few years, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) published its science and innovation strategy called 'Innovation Nation' on 13 March 2008. It highlights the vital role that design plays in improving our economy. Download a PDF (923KB) of Innovation Nation

Key points include:

Research that shows firms with higher design intensity have a greater probability of carrying out product innovation
Work with RDAs through Designing Demand is highlighted as a way to catalyse business innovation
'Race to the Top' summarises progress with implementing Lord Sainsbury's Review of Science and Innovation
An annual review of innovation will include the take up of design as a key indicator of innovation
A new Innovation Index will measure UK innovation

Through commercialising the science base, improving business competitiveness and updating our public services so they suit the needs of users, design can help make the UK more innovative and ultimately improve our economy.

What is the Design Council doing?

The Design Council will help DIUS to implement many of the suggestions from 'Innovation Nation'. We will work with a new partnership of organisations including the National School of Government, the Young Foundation and NESTA to create a Whitehall Innovation Hub to make leadership and procurement in the public sector more innovative. A Public Services Innovation Laboratory will also be set up in partnership with NESTA.

DIUS has asked the Design Council to develop and trial an innovation enabling programme for the public sector, based on the success of Designing Demand for SMEs.

In more depth
Visit the Designing Demand website to find out more about how it has helped small businesses become more innovative.

Do you think that design and creativity has a role to play in these areas? Do you have ideas about open innovation, or about creating a culture of innovation in the public sector? Do you think the Government has a role to play in stimulating innovation among businesses or universities?

Tell us what you think
Visit the perspectives page to tell us about your ideas for making the UK an innovation nation

Timeline

June 2008

'Designing Sustainable Policy' research is published and for the first time shows the extent of the communications gap between parliament, Government and the design sector in the UK

13 March 2008

DIUS publishes 'Innovation Nation', its Science and Innovation Strategy and 'The Race to the Top', a way to implement suggestions from the Sainsbury Review

February 2008

DIUS asks for contributions to inform its Science and Innovation Strategy

13 December 2007

Design Council seminar in Westminster examines the role of design in public services, and gives practical examples of projects where design has helped

7 November 2007

An 11 Downing Street Breakfast Meeting organised by the Design Council brings members of the design community together with Government ministers and representatives from industry and the public sector to discuss the role of design in public and private sector innovation

October 2007

Lord Sainsbury, whose Science and Innovation Review was published in 2007

Lord Sainsbury champions ideas developed by the Design Council in his Science and Innovation Review

YOUR PERSPECTIVES ON THIS ISSUE

David Kester

Design Council Chief Executive

The DIUS Innovation Nation strategy underlines the vital role of design in making Britain more innovative, competitive and effective in key areas of national life. It marks a pivotal moment for the UK design industry, building on our work to establish design’s role in enabling innovation – not just in science and technology, but in business and public services too - and we are hugely excited to see this boost being given to the role of design in these vital areas.

Nico Macdonald

Design and technology commentator and consultant

For designers, the most interesting questions may be 'What else should Government do to promote more innovation in service delivery or in policy development?' and 'What types of skills should Government be encouraging?' I have posted my responses on my Journal. At a basic level, design input is also needed to help DIUS communicate and interact with its constituencies.

Andrea Siodmok

Head of Design Knowledge, Design Council

Public sector organisations are subject to many of the same pressures as their private sector counterparts, including managing increased demand, responding to technological change, coping with environmental legislation, and attracting and retaining staff. But customers' expectations of the public sector have risen just as they have of the private sector. The lack of a culture of creativity in many public sector organisations makes it very difficult to successfully prototype, develop, test and deliver new products and services - which is compounded by a lower tolerance for risk taking and failure. Clearly we need to use design in new, smarter ways to tackle the unprecedented challenges facing public services.

Recent submissions

Mike Goatman said on 19 March 2008 at 12:23
To achieve this we have to become more sophisticated in ways of understanding the other professionals or stakeholders' discipline perspectives. Everyone has their initial platform in their own constituency, and can see how problems should be solved from that point of view. But we need to move beyond that, and understand the different positions, methods, target measurements etc. Ultimately this means new methodologies and may take some research.

Frank Davis said on 11 February 2008 at 14:14

True history of innovation in the UK is part of collective knowledge and experience of the organisation. There are bad examples of projects, but look at PPP. 'Smarter ways' of tackling problems, with designers become quick fix commercial solutions reflecting the world we live in rather than a better way of doing things. Replacing a bus conductor with a ticket machine and a video camera reduces operating costs but is a poor user experience. We need institutions, with easier access to R and D, well educated employees with a sense of pride and ownership. Innovation will follow.

Swati Mehrotra said on 22 January at 15:04

The designers are changing the way we see things. The next era belongs to innovation and that's possible with the help of designers be it fashion or technology. The things are changing! Now to meet up with customers expectations one needs to be really matching with that of private sector! We need to be technologically advanced and innovative in design! To tackle such problems one needs to closely check the prototype and deliver new stuff in mkt!

Lydia Thornley said on 22 January 2008 at 14:12

It's important not to let innovation become something you 'do'. Real innovation is not comfortable. It goes straight to the problem. The public sector needs to redesign procurement to let innovation in. Education needs to get rid of the mutual exclusivity between academic and creative subjects to foster a sense of possibility. For businesses, innovation will need championing from the inside. There's enormous potential - if we use our creative thinkers at a high enough level and at an early enough stage.