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THE DESIGN ECONOMY 2018

Well done the Design Council for publishing The Design Economy 2018 report last week. This quantifies what most of us in BIDA have known anecdotally for years – industrial designers make a difference and a significant contribution to the economy.

Three key points are made, which we strongly support:

 

  1. When designers are engaged we create opportunities for growth and improved business performance. However, the roadblock continues to be the rate of uptake for design services, especially by SME’s who still often see design as ‘window dressing’.

  2. We are encouraged to see the primary recommendation for a change to tax credits. BIDA proposed a ‘design and innovation tax credit’ earlier this year and we hope that BIDA members will support the Board in lobbying for an extension to the current R&D tax credit scheme. This is the most effective way of encouraging more SME’s to properly understand our role and benefit from the contribution we make towards growing businesses.

  3. We strongly support the view that Design and Technology, in schools, should be reinstated as a core curriculum subject. Not because we need more designers, but because we need to educate a design aware public that understands the value of good design.

 

The report provides us with some useful data to help market industrial design and we hope you’ll use it to underpin our value when selling to clients.