When the old ideas stop working, business must find new ones. So is the current economic slowdown a fantastic opportunity for design?
To find out, the Design Council and The Economist brought leaders from business and design together at a major conference in March 2010.
Economists and Design
In this short film Robin Bew, Chief Economist of the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Sir George Cox, Former Chairman of the Design Council, discuss how design thinking will aid the recovery.
Redesigning Business Summit
The innovative business model used by US underpants company PACT was one of the case studies we brought to an international audience of business leaders at our Big Rethink conference with The Economist in March 2010.
By gathering insights from around the world, we help share best and next practice in design and innovation. In turn we use this to inform national policies for government, the public
sector and industry.
The Summit focused on how design could provide the new ideas companies need to plot their next move in a post-recession economy. It explored how design can respond to challenges like climate change, globalisation and fast-developing technology.
Speakers included IDEO’s Chief Creative Officer Paul Bennett, collaborative media pioneer Nick Jankel and Joe Ferry, Virgin Atlantic Airways’ Head of Design.
Design in the knowledge economy 2020
This paper from Will Hutton, Executive Director of the Work Foundation, raises some tough questions for Britain. Are we playing to our strengths? Are we mixing the skills and capabilities that are the foundation stones of innovation, such as technology, design and enterprise? Hutton concludes that design needs to be an integral part of the new innovation ecosystem and he endorses some of the Design Council’s recent ‘open’ collaborative approaches to innovation.
Read Will Hutton's paper on Design in the knowledge economy 2020