by Anna Whicher
SEE is a network of eleven European design organisations engaging with government representatives to integrate design into public policy. The International Institute of Design Policy and Support based in Cardiff (UK) has been keeping CATALYST up-to-date on our progress and May was a busy month!
- We launched our second SEE Policy Booklet – Realising Sustainability and Innovation through Design: Making it Happen in Communities, Industry, Public Sector and Policy-Making;
- We released the third issue of the SEE bulletin with research, interviews, case studies and resources;
- We posted the Design Policy and Promotion Map online giving a global perspective on the increasing number of design policies and promotion programmes;
- We held our third SEE workshop on Evaluating Innovation and Design Policies in Florence.
Since policies for sustainability and innovation are expected to serve an increasing array of purposes, this second SEE Policy Booklet aims to demonstrate how design can incite a sustainable and innovative mindset among all players in society. For communities, industry, public sector and policy-making this publication outlines the rationale behind policy intervention, explores how design can be employed to realise sustainability and innovation, provides illustrative case studies and puts forward policy proposals.
In this edition of the SEE bulletin we invited Ezio Manzini, leading expert on sustainable design at Politecnico di Milano, to discuss social innovation and the role of design. Jean Schneider (APCI), provides a summary of the 7th European Conference on the ‘Challenges of Design Promotion’. The Design Policy and Promotion Map collects interviews from Botswana, Brazil, Kenya, Latvia and Poland. We also present two case studies; one on business support in Ireland and the other on an eco-design smart tool from Belgium. Finally, the SEE Library with useful resources is back again.
To get a global perspective on the growing number and increasing maturity of design policies and promotion programmes, this map presents statements from design practitioners from several countries around the world. Each statement provides us with an overview of the current developments in their country and outlines how design fits into government strategies for fostering innovation. It is now available on the SEE website.
On 10 and 11 May 2010, the SEE partners and their government representatives participated in the third project workshop on Evaluating Design and Innovation Policies. It was an intense two days with a heavy theme but we merged with a concrete strategy for proposing a set of tools for measuring the impact of design, which will be proposed to our policy-makers in the next SEE Policy Booklet.
For more information about the SEE project visit: www.seeproject.org
SEE is operating from September 2008 to June 2011, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVC programme.
Anna Whicher is Research Officer at the International Institute of Design Policy and Support and editor of the SEE Policy Booklet.
