There are a clear range of enablers which are the tools available, the materials and technologies, computing power and the emerging availability of knowledge.

The range of constraints considered is in itself interesting, and is a major consideration for the possible direction of future design research. These constraints are listed below:-

• People and training.
• Product liability.
• Increasing complexity.
• Volume of knowledge to manage.
• Access to that knowledge.

There was also a feeling that computers for design representation and the use of computers has led to a loss of "feel" for products and systems and has also made the design process more difficult to oversee and control.

This range of factors is common to both large and medium size companies.

• Analytical and optimisation methods.
• Rapid prototyping and electronic mock up methods.
• The "Design for X" approaches.

• CAD CAM links.
• Project management tools.
• Tools for the selection of materials and components.
• CFD and FEA systems.

These have impacted extensively within larger organisations, but they have also filtered down into the medium and small companies and participants from these sectors were aware of these techniques, whether they were actually using them or not. (The issue of availability and use will be discussed later.)

The above can be thought of as the development of support tools. However there are also a range of 'softer' aspects that have been established that can be thought of as achievements. These are listed below:-

• The understanding of 'design' as a process that can and should be managed.
• The awareness of the importance of the early stages of the design process.
• Team/process structures.
• University/Industry partnerships.

The latter point was seen as a clear benefit or achievement, particularly amongst the larger organisations, but a number of the medium size organisations had also organised some links and relationships particularly through the teaching company scheme.

It was considered that the impact of the above methods where they had been applied directly had been considerable, but the word influence occurred in a number of discussions. It was considered that a lot of the outcome of design research had "influenced" process, methods, techniques and at a variety of levels. This influence was considered to be quite difficult to track in a number of situations. The 'influence' process was also considered to be both slow and unclear .

A number of activities and changes that have taken place have proved to be less valuable and arguably have had a negative impact or at least are a cause for concern.

The summary lists of 'negative impacts' are shown in Appendix 5, of particular note are the refences to 'island solutions', the academic way of working and lack of transfer of research. These issues emerge from the analysis of the pre-workshop submissions in Section 4.3. Interestingly these lists show some conflicts with the "achievements" listed above, which shows that developments may have both positive and negative effects, and that even associated with these 'achievements' that there are still gaps. But the concerns raised are of importance and may well be a consequence of the 'validation' issue discussed in Section 3.2.

The awareness issues associated with these new developments are clearly crucial and it is interesting to understand how practitioners obtain information. This topic of awareness, up take and technology transfer will be dealt with in Section 3.

Although there were some divergences in views, some clear trends also began to emerge, of particular note were the issues of knowledge management and of the integration of design tools, so that they can be used to support the initial phases of the processes and used seamlessly with later stages of the process. There was also a common view on the people aspects of design with concern expressed over the supply of skilled designers and the retention or capture of knowledge from existing ones.

There also does seem to be an emphasis on needs associated with understanding of the customer and the market amongst the medium to small organisations. Upon discussion it was felt that this was because in general their customers are more wide-ranging and diverse, and if they are in the first tier or second tier supply chain position they are that little bit more removed from what the exact design requirement is.

The medium and small companies also were concerned about globalisation and its impact. They perceived that they were going to have to cope with the issues associated with undertaking the design work in the UK and sub-contracting the manufacturer and possibly assembly of that design in one or more locations across the world.

Appendix 6 also contains a list of research issue enabler "needs" which again generated considerable consensus, such as a change to the research metrics, the need for a taxonomy and the call for a validation 'laboratory.

The requirements issues associated with technology transfer are dealt with in Section 3.

figure 2. Making into methods

The issues are shown diagrammatically in Figure 2, with the considerations on the outside with the layers indicating general issues, particular issues and then specific issues en-route to the target of 'Improved design' characterised as "better, cheaper, faster". The priorities from the delegates in Groups C and D (listed in Appendix 7) are shown in Figure 3. Another way of viewing the issues is shown in Figure 4, which shows a 'Need' to 'Market' process with the overarching issues of Integration, Process and Culture mapped on. The future issues are mapped onto this diagram in red.

figure 3. The design environment

figure 4. Key issues: the design environment

It is emerging from these lists, and from the plenary discussions at the meeting that the key issues can be summarised as:-

• Knowledge and information management
• Integration of processes and tools
• Risk
• Complexity
• "First phase tools"(i.e. tools for use in concept design)

The priorities cut across the large and Medium/small sectors but with different emphasis.

There are also a number of other issues associated with the design research process that need to be addressed, namely:-

• The issue of metrics, both for the impact of research and process changes and for the activities within the academic community.
• The issue of design experiments and validation.

There is also the ongoing issue of the supply of talented and motivated people in design (and the design research area). This is seen as a fundamental issue and concerns both academics and industrialists, but it is considered outside the remit of this workshop to focus on this important issue.