Design-focused Research Group
Background
Project title:
Developing a Successful Australian Design Infrastructure for Innovation, Sustainability and International Competitiveness
Project Description:
Recent research has identified serious weaknesses in Australia's design infrastructure (design centres, design services, design education programs and other resources for designing products, systems and services). This weakness seriously compromises Australian innovation programs, international competitiveness of Australian businesses, building of a knowledge economy, and fulfilment of Australian social and economic development agendas.
The proposed study identifies the key factors in successfully developing Australia's design infrastructure. It does this through cross and in-case studies of four design-focused national economies (Finland, Korea, Norway and the UK) with 5 States in Australia, and a survey of the problems of Australian design infrastructure stakeholders.
Background 1:
The concepts of 'design infrastructure' and 'design activity' are associated with a definition of 'designing' as the devising of plans or specifications for creating products, systems, services or situations (précis of Simon, 1984). Design infrastructure and design activity are an essential part of the innovation process by which knowledge from research is converted into real world products, systems and services that can be traded commercially.
Historically, design infrastructure weakness is an issue that has been addressed by most developed countries. Design infrastructure in this context consists of the wide variety of design-related resources such as: design centres, highly educated design professionals, design organisations, design industry associations, design education programs, venture capital for innovative projects, appropriate communication networks and services, knowledge databases optimised for design activity, design research funding, and government policies and agencies aimed at maximising the benefits of design expertise across industry, government, education, and not-for-profit sectors.
A variety of strategies, such as design centres, improved design education programs, design services promotions and key centres of design research, have been used as a means of facilitating industry, commerce and government access to design resources in ways that improve international competitiveness and other economic and social development outcomes. The success or otherwise of particular design infrastructure building strategies has been dependent on national contexts and the detail of its implementation. The UK, for example, has had mixed success with particular strategies and as a result has developed its design infrastructure in several waves.
This means that successful implementation of design infrastructure initiatives in Australia must be based on a detailed understanding of the relationship between success factors and contexts, and on a clear understanding of the problems raised by the weaknesses in the existing Australian design infrastructure.
Australia's Design Infrastructure:
There is empirical evidence that design infrastructure is a key determinant of the success of innovative, knowledge-based economies. Innovation and the building of knowledge-based economies are the main elements of developed nations' strategies for economic and social development. Australia has committed itself to being an innovative, knowledge-based economy yet has a weak design infrastructure. The characteristics of the Australian design context are unusual and do not align with potential national role-models in successfully developing design infrastructure. This means that the problem has to be addressed at a deeper conceptual level - the purpose of this research.
Significance:
The problem this research addresses is important. The efficiency and effectiveness of any nation's design processes, and hence innovation processes, depend on its design infrastructure. For Australia, having a sound design infrastructure is implicated in the successful commercial exploitation of ideas, successful business processes and strategies, and gaining economic and social benefits from investments in research. Designing and design infrastructure are necessary to the conversion of investment in research into specifications for products, systems and services essential to business activity.
Weaknesses in design infrastructure result in a design 'gap' between these research and business processes. This 'gap' compromises Australian initiatives in:
- Innovation
- Developing Australia as a knowledge economy
- Attracting international investment to Australia
- Strategic management of Australian economic relationships with Asian and Pacific Rim countries.
Addressing weaknesses in Australia's design infrastructure is also important because the effectiveness and efficiency of design activity directly influences the outcomes of industry, commerce, education, government and the not-for- profit sectors, and hence, impacts on the likely success or otherwise of governments' economic and social plans.
Other:
The proposed research aligns with two other Australian design initiatives: establishing a national design centre in Western Australia, developing a critical mass of Australian design researchers. The research also aligns with initiatives of the international Design Research Society to create a world-wide postgraduate milieu for design research. Together, the proposed research and the above initiatives provide the potential for the establishment of a world-class cross-disciplinary design research centre at Curtin University.
