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Sharing Experience Europe - Policy Innovation Design
Policy Innovation Design
Policy, innovation and design are the three key words for the SEE project. The partners and their regional government representatives have been examining the role of design in realising innovation policy for the benefit of their regions’ economy and society. Since SEE began, design has been gaining increasing attention at policy and programme levels across Europe and around the world.
Policy and Innovation
The European Union, Member States and European Regions are committed to exploiting innovation to help companies perform better and therefore contribute to wider social objectives such as growth, employment and sustainability. Since the SEE project began in 2008, the policy landscape for both innovation and design at all levels across Europe has radically changed. In October 2010, the European Commission launched its new innovation policy ‘Innovation Union’, one of seven flagship initiatives of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. Innovation Union states that Europe must ‘develop its own distinctive approach to innovation pursuing a broad concept of innovation’; this reflects a paradigm shift towards expanding the scope of innovation policy.
Innovation and Design
As part of this broader concept, design has been recognised by the European Commission as a driver of innovation in both the private sector for bringing innovative ideas to market and the public sector for making services better correspond to citizens’ needs as well as for addressing social challenges:
‘Our strengths in design and creativity must be better exploited. We must champion social innovation. We must develop a better understanding of public sector innovation. Design is of particular importance as a key discipline to bring ideas to the market, transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products.’
With design now firmly on the European political agenda, the Member States and European Regions will be looking to understand how design can achieve their innovation priorities. However, at this stage, only certain forerunners have successfully developed, ratified and implemented policies for design. Despite few national policies for design, countries have been implementing design programmes for more than a century. Today, practically all developed countries have some national initiatives in support of design, although with varying levels of maturity. For examples, visit the SEE Case Study Library.
Policy, Innovation and Design
Speaking at the SEE project ‘Policy, Innovation and Design Conference’ on 29 March 2011 in the Flemish Parliament, Peter Dröll (Head of Unit, European Commission) stated:
‘It is the European Commission’s vision that by 2020 design is a fully acknowledged, well-known, well-recognised element of innovation policy across Europe, at the European level; at the national level and at regional level.’
Through the activities of the SEE project, particularly the research, policy booklets and workshops with policy-makers, the partners are supporting political actors across Europe in understanding the role of design in innovation policy. By sharing international best practice, developing support mechanisms and conducting mapping exercises of European innovation policies, SEE aims to influence innovation policies and programmes and enhance the evidence base for design impact.
