Notwithstanding the present ‘call to arms’ from those who regard the renaissance of manufacturing as our saviour from another services sector-led recession, we are frequently told that the future wellbeing of developed economies lies in their abilities to innovate and create – to provide the high-value seed corn of ideas for others to sow and make into finished goods.
However, according to new research from a consortium of UK universities*, led by the University of Cambridge, East Asian countries such as South Korea and Singapore are beginning to shift their economic emphasis away from low-cost production and into design. These findings, which appear in a new report examining international design capabilities, could have significant implications for the UK, where high-value activities such as design are regarded as essential to future competitiveness.
Britain is reputed to be a world leader in design. Design consultancies have an annual turnover of around £4bn and the design industry as a whole has a value of around £11.6bn. The consultancy sector directly employs nearly 62,000 people, with many more designers, perhaps twice this number, employed in industry.
The ‘International Design Scoreboard’, which was produced by the university project group with the support of the UK Design Council, marks the first ever attempt to compare national design capabilities. A total of 12 countries were assessed based on a series of indicators, including numbers of design graduates and the strength of the design consultancy sector.
The results suggest that western nations are under increasing threat from emerging East Asian ‘powerhouses’ as they develop their design sectors, invest in national design promotion and produce skilled design graduates. If this is indeed the case, then the embryonic design communities that begin to establish within these countries will already have an extensive manufacturing infrastructure right on their doorsteps.
James Moultrie of the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, describes the study as an “imperfect first attempt” to rank countries’ design performance. “But,” warns Dr Moultrie, “[the study’s] overall results, which show that the design sector is growing in the Far East in a manner which outstrips many Western countries, are consistent with anecdotal evidence. East Asian nations which have traditionally competed on price and low labour rates are now increasingly competing through design as well.”
The research measured design capability according to seven indicators: public investment in design, total number of design graduates, number of World Intellectual Patent Office (WIPO) design registrations, number of WIPO trademark registrations, number of design firms, turnover of design services sector and employment levels in the design services. Data was collected from a variety of sources, including national statistics agencies, published surveys and reports, and national design support bodies.
Each indicator was assessed in both ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ terms, in order to determine both the scale of a nation’s design capability and the intensity of design as a proportion of the economy. For example, total public investment in design promotion and support was measured alongside that investment as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. The researchers do, however, admit that reliable and comparable data was not available for a number of economies with a strong design emphasis, such as Germany and China.
The study ranks the UK fourth in absolute and sixth in relative terms. We apparently retain our leading capabilities in design education, but the report raises concerns about a decline in both turnover and employment in the consultancy sector. Data suggests that the UK design services sector was adversely affected by the ‘dot-com’ crash in 2001 and it may be that the sector will be further affected by the current economic climate. However, overall design employment appears to be rising, according to official Department for Culture, Media and Sport figures.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the US ranks first overall in absolute terms. But it is South Korea that is emerging as a new design powerhouse, ranking second in both absolute and relative terms. Singapore ranks first in relative terms, suggesting a high intensity of design activity relative to the size of the nation. In both Korea and Singapore, sustained public investment is enabling the design sector to flourish, as evidenced through a growing number of design graduates and registration of trademarks and designs.
However, the report acknowledges that data is currently sparse and difficult to compare, meaning that any international comparison needs to be treated with care. It also lays out a proposal for a more reliable set of indicators, which will form the basis of future work. In particular, no data was available for how much firms spend on design.
The project group also teamed up with the UK Design Council to conduct an exploratory survey of design spend among UK firms. The Council’s chief executive, David Kester, said that for policy-makers to take concerted efforts around the application of design, we need strong evidence and common metrics. “Over many years, the Design Council has carried out its own research and provided economic evidence that has informed the UK government’s understanding on design,” he asserts. “This report will add to the national evidence base on design and its role in the economy. It provides us with new methodologies to test and, over time, could add significantly to our common understanding of design in industry.”
Professor Philip Esler, Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, looks to our past for inspiration. “In the 19th century a deliberate and far-sighted investment in design made a major contribution to Britain’s leading role in the Industrial Revolution. In this era of the Digital Revolution, design will be just as, if not more important. For Britain to rise to this challenge, it needs accurate measures of its performance relevant to competitor nations. This project, embracing science, engineering and the arts and humanities in the UK’s integrated research base, represents an important means to this end.”
The complete Design Scoreboard report, International Design Scoreboard; Initial indicators of international design capabilities, can be found at www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/service/books/#reports
Les Hunt
Editor
*The Universities of Nottingham, Strathclyde, Cranfield, Dundee and Loughborough.