A “coalition agreement” has been struck between 13 universities in the U.K. and British Design Innovation (BDI), the trade organization for industrial design, service design, and innovation consulting groups. The universities have joined BDI in forming a national University Design Industry Partnership Scheme (UDIPS) — the first of its kind in the UK — in a bid to create world-changing innovations, products and, processes. The scheme hopes to leverage the value that private-sector industrial design companies can bring to discovery-led university research by acting as a bridge between the technology and consumer-focused market applications and between originators and industry.
Each of the UDIPS universities was hand-picked to reflect a representative mix of disciplines, students, staff, geographical spread, and commitment to collaborative innovation. They include the Universities of Anglia Ruskin, Brunel, Cambridge, Cranfield, Hertfordshire, Loughborough, Middlesex, Nottingham Trent, Queen’s Belfast, Staffordshire, Sussex, the Open University, and the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). The coalition was formalized following a national conference co-hosted by BDI and UCA thought to be the first national face-to-face debate between universities and strategic designers in the U.K. “Collectively, BDI members share 3,000 years of IP commercialization experience that has generated over £1,000,000,000 in revenues for organizations of all sizes, in all markets,” explains Maxine Horn, BDI’s CEO. “Our proven knowledge transfer processes are accredited by the Institute of Knowledge Transfer, and our designers’ abilities to validate the visual business case not only assists universities, spinouts, start-ups, and SMEs to communicate their potential to investors, venture capitalists, and other stakeholders but also prevents market application mistakes from occurring.”
A report summarizing the context for a national strategic UDIPS was published in March. (Click here to view the report.) Action points arising from the conference included the need for clearer terminology, roles, and capabilities and the formulation of robust remuneration models, rules of engagement, and collaborative working practice business models.
Source: British Design Innovation