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The Design Support Programme is a collaboration between the Norwegian Design Council and Innovation Norway to encourage and assist Norwegian industry, particularly SMEs, in working with professional designers in order to increase innovation and competitiveness. The programme began in 1998 and is still ongoing.

The Norwegian Design Council is the main organisation for design promotion in Norway. It is a relatively small organisation, employing 14 people, and is based in Oslo. It was founded in 1963 by the Confederation of Norwegian Industries and the Norwegian Export Council, and it is mainly funded by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Innovation Norway promotes nationwide industrial development profitable to both the business economy and Norway’s national economy, and helps release the potential of different districts and regions by contributing towards innovation, internationalisation and promotion. This state-owned organisation employs more than 700 people and has offices in all the Norwegian counties and in more than 30 countries worldwide. The head office is located in Oslo. Their core group of clients are predominantly SMEs. In this particular collaboration, the Norwegian Design Council contributes with in-depth knowledge of design management, design advisors and a database of Norwegian designers, whilst Innovation Norway has the network (national and international) and financial support available for Norwegian companies.

The Design Support Programme is targeted at Norwegian SMEs. One person is responsible for design support nationwide in both Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Design Council. There is also one person responsible for design support in every IN regional office in the Norwegian counties – a total of 18 offices. For these employees, design is a part-time job. In addition, from 2007 Innovation Norway will have 6-8 full-time design project advisors spread all over the country, who are responsible for design support in their counties and who provide advice for local companies. They write design briefs and do the referrals, whilst in the other counties, the Innovation Norway contacts visit the companies and write the design briefs but the Norwegian Design Council does the design referrals. This is very important for the Norwegian Design Council, as it means that they no longer have to visit all these companies themselves. Before the cooperation with Innovation Norway, advisors from the Norwegian Design Council in Oslo had to travel all around the country to meet the companies (and Norway with 4.6 million inhabitants is a long country with a scattered population!).

The process of connecting designers and companies normally involves a week’s work for the advisor. This includes the first visit to the company, the design brief, research for designers, meetings with three different designers, assessing the written proposal from the designers, discussing which designer is right for the job and help with a contract form.

Scansis AS www.scansis.no Football Pitch	Brudeli Tech AS Leanster
Examples of products from companies assisted by the Design Support Programme in Norway

From 2007 the strategy will change: more work will be undertaken for fewer companies and the projects will be followed more closely. Innovation Norway will carry out more research in companies to be sure that they are able to run a design project. If the company needs help, we will offer them different support – workshops, user tests – before they are connected to designers.

A national financing scheme, called Icebreaker, is available to companies. Companies can receive 50% of the design costs up to NOK 50 000 for first time design user and up to NOK100 000 for strategic design users. Innovation Norway also has access to some other financial help. In addition, the services offered by both Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Design Council are free to companies.

Between 1999 and 2006, more than 300 SMEs from all over the country from various industries have participated in this project. More than 130 different designers were assigned to projects and more than 160 different designers got the opportunity to meet with the companies (three different designers meet with each company initially).  This programme enables companies to receive professional design help. The outcome is a lot of successful projects which has contributed to increased sales and opened new markets. Some of the companies have received the Good Design Award for the design jobs. Some companies also report increased pride among the employees.

Although there has been no detailed overview over the total results achieved or tangible outcomes, the increased demand for design support means that the work done so far is seen as a success. This project, which will continue to run until 2009, has been successful for a number of reasons, one of the main reasons being the location of 18 offices with a design competence all over the country. Another reason is the economic support, at least at the start of a project. A database of more than 300 designers and good updated knowledge of Norwegian designers is important. The speed of the response to companies also plays an important part – the intention is to give them an immediate response when they ask for help and advice, that is, within weeks rather than months later. Companies see the fact that support is tailored to their needs as a good point of the programme.

The future of design support in Norway is looking promising. The objective is to improve the programme in order to be able to spend more time with each company, which will improve the effectiveness of the support. Companies who have been in contact for the last two or three years have received better support than the companies who were in contact with in the first two or three years of the support project. Many lessons have been learnt a lot and experience shows the need to go deeper into each company. From 2007 there will be more full-time advisers in both Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Design Council. The ideal scenario would be to have full-time project leaders in all the Norwegian counties. They are close to the companies, they know the companies in their county, they know the cultural differences between different counties, and they do not have to spend so much time and money on travelling. They are deeply engaged in design and they are good ambassadors for design all over the country.

For further information please contact Fred Pedersen at: the Norwegian Design Council: fp@norskdesign.no


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