Innovate UK KTN launched its Design Innovation Network just last month. Abi Hird, its founder and design specialist at Innovate UK KTN, discusses the purpose of the network, design concepts and what good design looks like in practice
Innovate UK KTN exists to connect innovators with new partners and new opportunities beyond their existing thinking – accelerating ambitious ideas into real-world solutions.
The Design Innovation Network aims to improve that process by making sure projects incorporate good design principles earlier than they might naturally think to do. By coaching innovators across all sectors and technology areas to ask the right questions early in their projects, the network hopes to see more of the projects it is involved in successfully raising funding to get on the road to effective commercialisation.
What does this really mean? Well, innovation is risky and not every project will succeed, but many fail unnecessarily because they’ve overlooked some important insights early on in development processes. The Design Innovation Network aims to change this by coaching innovators to think like a designer. Designers know form and function are not binary opposites, they have the finished product or service in mind right at the conceptualisation stages.
But when we talk about design concepts, we don’t just mean the aesthetic of a product. Good design incorporates entire systems, it’s aware of how different cogs in the process are connected and impact one another.
Good design is responsible and can create powerful positive impacts for the economy, society and the wider world.
The potential of good design
The potential of design can be overlooked. Too often, it is only tagged on at the end of an innovation process to make a product look shiny or operate passably.
The reality is that design can help innovators to manage risk in their innovation process, while uncovering opportunities for products to have more of an impact. This might mean opening up a bigger market, adding more value, allowing for bigger margins and boosting sustainability. Design can also enable products to integrate better with existing infrastructure, making them more attractive for procurement teams.
Good design in practice
Let’s take wind turbine blades, for example. All the on-shore sites and one offshore site in Scotland are nearing end-of-life. When they are decommissioned, we have to figure out what to do with the massive fibreglass blades.
They are 35m to 110m long and up to 40 tonnes, so they’re not easily transported on roads. That means, when they reach port, they get dumped in a field to be cut up, which poses both health and safety and ecological problems. On top of this, we are replacing them with new models with bigger turbines and bigger blades, so unless we learn from this end-of-life issue now and incorporate good design concepts into next-gen turbines, we will be making an even bigger problem for ourselves down the line.
The Design Innovation Network prompts innovators to ask questions now: what can the blades be used for? Can the blades offer the raw material for another product or process? Can disassembly be designed in from the start?
Another practical application for design could be seen with biodegradable nappies. The product has already been developed, but its innovator has been frustrated as there is no policy or legislation to take it to market.
If design had been consulted at the starting point, it could have looked at the wider systems that need to be satisfied in order to get the product to market; it isn’t all about the material science and biochemistry involved in the product. Good design would have asked, what councils should we be talking to? What legislation needs to be addressed?
The point is that by understanding wider systems and involving the right people, good design can drive positive societal change.
Innovate UK KTN’s Design Innovation Network will work with innovators, leveraging the potential of good design to drive products capable of addressing society’s pressing challenges. Innovation is held back by bad design and we are on a mission to reverse this and use good design to drive innovations forward.
To find out more about Innovate UK KTN’s Design Innovation Network, visit: https://ktn-uk.org/design/design-innovation-network/
Abi Hird
Founder
Design Innovation Network
Tel: (+44) 03333 403250
Twitter: @KTNUK
LinkedIn:Â ktnuk
YouTube: Innovate UK KTN
