Roger at Europe Innova, Copenhagen

Our MD and Chair of the South West Design Forum, Roger Proctor, was invited by the European Commission to address high-level policy makers at the Europe INNOVA event in Copenhagen in June. So what did he have to say? And what did the event achieve?

The event brought together 200 national and regional policy makers, representatives of service industries and innovation support providers. Its aim? To identify what new business support mechanisms are needed to promote services innovation that will, in turn, support European policy.

Roger, as the sole representative of Europe’s design industry, described the practical solutions that the South West Design Forum is developing to improve the sector’s capacity, productivity, sustainability and innovation.

Design for the economy and society
That included outlining the fact that European governments and institutions have only just begun to realise the important economic, social and cultural contribution of the creative industries. Significantly, design has been identified as one of the most important elements of these industries.

However, design’s vital economic and social contribution has largely, until now, thrived without governmental intervention. Also, to face the challenges of an increasingly competitive world and media convergence, designers need to move beyond their present business models into other and new dimensions.

Roger highlighted the challenges of harnessing and developing this sector further, to ensure that it is competitive and world-leading in the future, without inhibiting what has already been a successful model.

Top down or ground up?
He posed the question of whether this should this be approached from the ‘top down’ by regional, national and European policy makers, or perhaps it could be achieved more effectively from the ‘ground up’ by the industry and practitioners themselves.

With typical passion for his industry, Roger highlighted that if all parties understand and work with the design sector and its structures, we can:

• Build capacity and improving productivity 
• Promote and ensure knowledge transfer 
• Develop sound design policies for sustainability 

Most importantly, all of this can and should be achieved through local, regional, national and international professional networks ‘owned’ and run by the industry itself. These networks will exist to listen, understand, share, plan, support and deliver what is required.

However there are significant challenges to be faced by the sector. Networks, where they exist, face difficulties in making participation worthwhile and acceptable for the industry. There is no doubt that resources and time are in short supply and financial sustainability is often the overriding issue.

The outcomes
At the end of the conference, the European Commission announced two important initiatives:

1. The “European Creative Industry Alliance” between regions that wish to strengthen their creative industries and are willing to support SMEs in other sectors to take better advantage of creative solutions, such as design. 

2. The Commission will commit at least €100 million in support of the creative industries and the better use of creativity by other industrial sectors, particularly design. 

Want to learn more about the South West Design Forum? Visit its website here.

Words – Jess Ellis
Pictures – Chris Giles