The €Design Project has published its first Paper examining the economic impact of design

€Design is an initiative whose aim is to identify and establish guidelines for measuring design as a factor of economic production and its impact on GDP. The project has six European partners: BCD Barcelona Design Centre, Coordinator (Spain); design austria (Austria); Hungarian Design Council/ Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (Hungary); SVID Swedish Industrial Design Foundation (Sweden) as well as the University of Cambridge / Design Management Group (United Kingdom) and Copenhagen Business School (Denmark).
The project, co-financed by the European Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, will analyse and define the conceptual framework of design in its economic context, so that design can be measured both as a tool for user-centred innovation and as an economic factor of production. Tangible results can be obtained that demonstrate the importance of design as a crucial element in enhancing the innovative capabilities of Europe, and increasing economic growth and business competitiveness in the global market.

The initiative is part of the 1st Action Plan of the European Design Innovation Initiative, a commitment of the Innovation Union Europe 2020 flagship to exploit the full potential of design for innovation and to reinforce the link between design, innovation and competitiveness.

To download the Analytical Framework Paper please: click here