The AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) and the Design Council published a scoping study on the current state of research on the value and impact of design.
The study is the first stage in a major collaboration between the two organisations to address the challenges being faced by the design research community which, while playing a key role in economic and social value creation, faces challenges in terms of measurement of the value of design, evidence-gathering and business and policy partnerships.
Commissioned jointly by the Design Council and the AHRC, the study was written by Madano Partnership who, it was also announced today, will undertake further research on the value and impact of design and, in particular, will explore the emerging field of service design. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) will also be partners in this second stage of the research. Service design is the branch of design that addresses the need to make services as usable, efficient and desirable as possible. With three-quarters of the UK economy service-related and only one in ten service businesses thinking that design can set them apart from their competitors, service design has been identified as one area in which there is considerable opportunity for engagement between the business and academic spheres.
Earlier this year, the AHRC and the Design Council began work to look at design research in UK universities, and its interactions with businesses and policymakers. A wide-ranging review of the landscape and the literature was undertaken, along with events and an online consultation process to engage as widely as possible with the UK design research community and with the audiences for their research – business, design industry, policymakers – all of which has fed into the scoping study. The aim was to identify future areas for research funding, and new and innovative ways of bringing research and industry together to work on that research.
Mat Hunter, Chief Design Officer at the Design Council, commented: ‘We’re delighted to be teaming up with two of the UK’s Research Councils (AHRC and ESRC) to scope out an area, service design, where we believe research can make a real difference. We have long argued that design can really add value, and we’re confident that this research will highlight the benefits that engagement with design has for UK business and the resulting opportunities to thrive.’
Dr Emma Wakelin, Associate Director at the AHRC, said: ‘It is well known that the UK design research community is among the best and most innovative in the world. What this collaboration can do is to help that community build the partnerships that will play a central role in our vital Creative Economy. We’re delighted to being working with the Design Council on an initiative which we hope will help realise the enormous potential of our design research community.’
For further information and to read the report, please go to: LINK
AHRC News: LINK
