EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report contains the results and recommendations of the Future Issues in Design Research(FIDR) Workshop held in Bath, UK in February 1999.

Design or the generation of new products or systems and the generation of the intellectual property associated with them is considered an important part of a mature economy in a post-industrial or information society age. Design as an academic subject, capable of methodological research, is in its infancy having being going actively in the UK for about 15 years.

The workshop was the first of its kind in the UK to deal specifically with the design research area and its impact on Industry. It was specifically convened to reflect on the impact of design research and to understand the needs of Industry and to suggest key issues for future research.

It was carefully formulated to have a 50/50 split of participants between academics and industrialists and also to reflect the needs of medium and small organisations, by having those organisations represented as half the industrialists.

The workshop had three outputs upon which the following findings and recommendations are based, namely a pre-workshop submission, discussion groups and plenary sessions and a workshop questionnaire.

There was strong consensus that quite a lot had been achieved in the areas of support tools, design for methodologies and the understanding of the design process and that this had been of benefit to industry. But there are some areas for concern and a number of key issues and recommendations have emerged out of this existing work and the drivers seen by industry. The recommendations are as follows:

These were of particular concern to the medium and small organisations.

 

Underpinning the above new 'programme areas it is also strongly recommended that considerable attention given to the issue of validation or Post Research Research by both the EPSRC and the DTI. This part of the process, which is not exploitation, is not technology transfer, is not development, (they all come afterwards), is seen as crucial to the overall success of design research programmes.

This might be done through the expansion and development or modification of existing schemes such as the research assistants industrial secondment scheme or the teaching company scheme. It is also an area that would benefit from a DTI activity in this area to develop new strategies and review current and best practice in some detail. This seen as one of the critical areas to maintain the progress in the design research area, not only the understanding of the process but also the development of support systems and tools, however defined.

 

There is a disparity of requirements and timescales between those who do the research and those who want and need the research done. The requirements of academics to produce journal papers, deemed of little value by the Industrialists, and to work predominantly to a 3 year timescale, with researchers who have to understand from scratch the needs of industry were seen as major problems. Theses issues have been exacerbated by the introduction of the Research Assessment Exercises(RAE) and its particular criteria. These factors, along with the lottery effect of the funding criteria, seem to mitigate against the involvement of medium/small companies. A review of the metrics or measures of performance is long overdue and it is recommended that such a review is undertaken, initiated at a senior level by the DTI and EPSRC. This would help the overall effectiveness of design research and the phase of Post Research Research(PRR). A shift of metrics would help the funding agencies, mentioned above, promote their particular interest of technology or knowledge transfer and the development and dissemination of best practice in the design area into UK Industry.

The importance of design as a key part of a modern mature economy has been stated above. Despite the achievements and the new support tools and processes described in this report, the development of good people for Industry is still seen as crucial. Thus the continued high profile and dissemination of the benefits of 'good' design and associated processes is seen as essential to attract good people in to what is infact rather a challenging and at times frustrating discipline.

The workshop organisers and the DTI and EPSRC wish to thank the participants and for giving up their time, both their own and that of their organisations, to so actively participate and contribute to the workshop.

It is pledged(supported by the EPSRC and DTI) to review the impact of the recommendations from this report on organisation and policy formulation in 18 months to 2 years time. All participants will be communicated the results of that review. It is hoped that this 'closing the loop' will enable and encourage participants, particularly senior industrialists and engineers from medium and small organisations to contribute again to such events in future.

 

 

 

 

S.J.Culley

Workshop Chair

May 1999