APGDI Newsletter: October 08

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11/11/08 APGDI Newsletter: October 08

Newsletter
Issue 16
October 2008
 

Upcoming Events

APGDI Design and Innovation Parliamentary Networking Breakfast.

9th December 2008

In partnership with the Design Council

Dining Room B, House of Commons, 8.30-10.00

Building Schools for the Future: Forward Look programme

11th December 2008

Education Innovation: ICT in the next generation of schools.

Attlee Suite, House of Commons, 16.00 – 18.00

NESTA Report Launch hosted by the APGDI with keynote address by David Willetts.

17th December

Dining Room B, House of Commons, 8.30-10.00

To enquire about attending APGDI events email Oliver Coppard

Design and Innovation News

£1.6m for Designing Out Crime

The Design Council, the Home Office and the Design and Technology Alliance have unveiled a major expansion of the Designing Out Crime initiative. For more click here

Cambridge Housing Scheme takes Stirling Prize for Architecture

Accordia in Cambridge is the first housing development ever to win the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture. For more click here

The Lighthouse jobs at risk in funding shortfall

The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City in Glasgow, could be forced to make up to ten redundancies as it seeks emergency council funding. The organisation is seeking funding from Glasgow City Council. A spokeswoman for The Lighthouse says that if the funding isn’t approved, The Lighthouse board of directors would meet to consider the next steps. The prospect of closure has been mooted in the Scottish press. For more click here

Design Museum to relocate

The Design Museum is in the early stages of planning to move from its Shad Thames home to west London. Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic says that the museum is exploring the possibility of taking over the Parabola, the previous site of the Commonwealth Institute, in Kensington High Street, London W8. Negotiations are ongoing between both parties to ascertain the terms of this relationship, though this will be a ‘long, drawn out and complicated process’, according to Sudjic. ‘It’s a great building and we’d love to make use of it,’ he says. ‘It would be a unique chance to bring back to life this key building of the 1960s and be a natural home for a museum dedicated to design and architecture.’

Green Award 2008 Shortlist Announced

The Green Awards are pleased to announce this year’s shortlisted entries. Winners will be announced on 12th November at an Awards Ceremony at the Brewery. For more details click here

Enterprise Week 2008

Enterprise Week (17-23 November 2008), part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, is a national celebration of enterprise with thousands of events and activities happening across the UK. Over 2,000 organisations run events and activities during the week to encourage people to have ideas and make them happen. For more click here

Pentawards 2008 Winners

The first worldwide competition to concentrate exclusively on Packaging Design has just announced their 2008 list of winners. All the winning designs can be seen here

New Design Museum Exhibitions

Alan Aldridge - the Man with Kaleidescope Eyes and Patricia Urquiola - Purely Porcelain are now open. For more click here

New wave of Sea Change funding announced

DCMS has announced a £4.5 handout to 12 English seaside towns in the latest round of funding from the Government’s Sea Change programme, which aims to reinvigorate our much-loved resorts by investment in culture and heritage. For more click here

World's leading creative businesses come to the UK

World leaders from the creative and financial industries will convene in the UK next year to help ensure that our creative industries continue to grow and thrive. The inaugural Creativity & Business International Network (c&binet) will take place at The Grove in Hertfordshire from 26 – 28 October 2009. For more click here

Denham announces £350m to support small businesses

Skills Secretary John Denham announced that small businesses will be the focus of £350 million of Government funds to help them train their staff. For more click here

In Parliament

21/05/08 Designing Sustainable Policy: Research Launch

The APGDI has launched 'Designing Sustainable Policy', a landmark piece of research that for the first time shows the extent of the communications gap between parliament, Government and the design sector in the UK.

The research has been independently authored by Joanna Shaw in association with the APGDI and sponsored by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The report draws on questionnaires and in-depth interviews with over sixty parliamentarians and an equal number of design businesses and makes a raft of  reccomendations aimed at bridging the gap between design and decision makers.

Recommendations to the design industry:

  • Recognise the benefits of engagement with Government and Parliament, and educate their sector in relation to these benefits
  • Invest in public affairs expertise, so that an effective communications strategy is targeted at Parliament and Government – ensuring the industries ability to influence policy relating to the industry
  • Get design industry bodies to clarify and co-ordinate their communications and increase their profile in Parliament
  • Establish evidence in support of the design sector and target it to a governmental audience
  • Develop effective media relations to increase the profile of the sector
     

Recommendations to Parliament:

  • Support and champion design businesses in their community
  • Engage with regional design programmes in their constituencies
  • Champion design in the policy making process
  • Demand design-led solutions in their constituencies
  • Support the work of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Design and Innovation
     

Recommendations to Government:

  • Increase all departments’ awareness of the benefits of good design
  • Extend the remit of the Ministerial Design Champions and appoint backbench Regional Design Champions
  • Set up expert design panels across all departments
     

21/02/08 Creative Economy Programme set for Launch

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is finally set to launch the Creative Economy Programme. Initially conceived as a Green Paper when launched in March 2006, it is intended that the CEP strategy document will include plans for a raft of new initiatives aimed at bolstering the design and creative industries in the UK. 

Following widespread leaks surrounding the launch, initiatives expected within the CEP include plans for a Jasper Conran backed 'Couture Academy', support for a Creative Capital conference for London and the extension of the Creative Partnerships Programme to include input from the Design Council.

Ed Vaizey, Conservative Shadow Minister for the Arts, has already denounced the plans expected to be contained within the CEP as 'small scale and micro-managed'. 

17/01/08 DIUS Launch Innovation Review Consultation

Minister for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson MP, has recently invited contributions to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills Science and Innovation Strategy. Making the call for contributions to the development of the strategy, the Minister has written:

‘I am delighted to invite you to take up the opportunity to contribute to the Science and Innovation Strategy that the Department for innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is producing in the spring of 2008. I would value your input, drawing on your own and your organisations skills and experience.

The strategy aims to identify innovative ways in which we can promote innovation across the private and public sectors and help more people to acquire and use the skills for successful innovation. Our intention is to strengthen the relationships between providers and users of products and services and skills in innovation to reinforce the innovation culture that we are building together in a way that is socially inclusive.

I am taking soundings from a wide range of stakeholder groups across society to draw on the best ideas from external experts and suppliers and users of innovation. To take part please email us at innovation.ideas@dius.gsi.gov.uk or register at our website

The responses I receive will inform future DIUS policy priorities to improve the UK’s quality of life (social and environmental) and economic prosperity.’   

Submissions to the consultation will inform the Science and Innovation Strategy which will set out a clear vision and direction for science and innovation policy in the UK. Discussion around the priorities will continue in 2008.

07/11/07 Lord Triesman praises work of APGDI

Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, praised the work of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Design and Innovation in his speech to mark the launch of Policy Connect. Lord Triesman, said that "the role of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Design and Innovation is vital to us. I congratulate everyone who has contributed to that and i look forward to the continuing partnership upon which we all depend."  He went on to say that "the importance of design, innovation and the creative industries in the United Kingdom now is vast and it is growing."

Lord Triesman joined the Department in June of this year.

30/10/07 Design Effectiveness Awards

The Design Business Association, the industry’s champion for commercially effective design, held its annual Design Effectiveness Awards dinner at the glamorous Hurlingham Club in Fulham on the 30th of October. The Design Effectiveness Awards celebrate the best in effective design, using commercial data as a key judging criterion, and highlight the importance of design in business. The awards, which were attended by major design buyers including FTSE 100 companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, design industry leaders, and the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism, Margaret Hodge MBE MP. In the Foreword to the event’s programme, the Minister wrote that:

‘A good design is what sets apart a good business from a great business. And that’s why the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards are so important. They highlight the importance of investing in design and putting it at the forefront of any business plan or idea.

The Design sector is one of the 13 creative industries which account for more than 7 per cent of the UK’s economy. Government takes these industries very seriously and we’ll soon be presenting a policy paper to Parliament to better support them.’

Notable winners on the night included: the brand identity created by Wolf Olins for Macmillan Cancer Support which saw Macmillan record a record fundraising income of £96.8million (Euro143million) in 2006, up £4.6million (Euro 6.8million) on the previous year; the Home office Respect Campaign created by the Team, which won in the Design for Society Category; and the 2007 Grand Prix Winner in the product design category which went to the Optac Digital Download Device created by London Associates.

22/10/07 Sir Michael Bichard unveiled as next Chairman of t...

Sir Michael Bichard was today appointed as the new Chair of the Design Council. Sir Michael succeeds Sir George Cox and will take up his post in January 2008. The Design Council is the national strategic body for design. It promotes the use of design throughout the UK's businesses and public services. Announcing the appointment John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills said: "I am thrilled that Sir Michael Bichard has agreed to take on this important role at a time when design is acknowledged as central to international business competitiveness, innovation performance and wider social well-being. As a public figure with a world-wide reputation in the fields of education, government and the creative arts, Sir Michael is well placed to tackle the important agenda the Design Council seeks to address.”

25/07/07 'So what do you do?' MP workshop

The APDGI and the Design Council hosted the second annual parliamentary design workshop, giving MPs the chance to learn first hand about the practical value of design . A team from the Design Council worked with a group of MPs, including former Chief Whip Hillary Armstrong, introducing them to the principles of service design and showing them how to use these principles to better connect with their constituents. Attendees left with both a Design Council 'Democracy Report' that outlined the ten practical things that every MP can do to rebuild democracy in their constituency using design, and a greater understanding of how they might design their services, offices, mailings, and websites in a way that helps constituents understand the role and work of an MP more fully.

03/05/07 Design skills development plan launch

Working closely with our sister group, the National Skills Forum, the APDGI hosted the parliamentary launch of the Design Council backed Design Skills Development Plan. The launch provided an opportunity for parliamentarians to hear first hand about the findings and recommendations set out in the report. The Plan, put together by a Design Skills Advisory Panel made up of senior design industry figures, aims to ensure that the UK design industry both maintains and extends its position as a world leader by focusing on the development of high level skills.  At the event, MPs including John Redwood and Timothy Boswell voiced their support for the findings set out in the report.

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