European Design Leadership Board: Public sector innovation through designers‘ involvement in Living Labs

The main event of the European Design Innovation Initiative in 2012 was held on September 17 -18 in Helsinki (FI), World Design Capital 2012. The report of the European Design Leadership Board “Design for Growth and Prosperity” was presented and discussed during the event  and it contains references to living labs.

The main event of the European Design Innovation Initiative in 2012 was held on September 17 -18 in Helsinki (FI), World Design Capital 2012. The report of the European Design Leadership Board “Design for Growth and Prosperity” was presented and discussed during the event  and it contains references to living labs.

Specifically in it is strategic action on Design in Europe’s public sector it recommends to increase the use of design/designers in public sector innovation through supporting designers’ greater involvement in living labs where social innovation and public services are critical challenges.

The European Design Leadership Board was established in early 2011 by Antonio Tajani, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry. Vice President Tajani invited the Leadership Board to provide recommendations on how to enhance the role of design in innovation policy in Europe at the national, regional or local level and to develop a joint vision, priorities and actions to enable design to become an integral part of innovation policies in Europe, in line with the Innovation Union.

Over a period of one year, the European Design Leadership Board held seven meetings and a co-design policy workshop with over fifty key stakeholders from government, industry, academia, the design industries and the public sector.

Taking a broadly-based view of design, the Leadership Board identified twenty-one policy recommendations, in six strategic areas for design action:

• Europe in the world
• Design in Europe’s Innovation system
• Design in Europe’s enterprises
• Design in Europe’s public sector
• Design in Europe’s research system
• Design in Europe’s education system

For more information here and have a look at the European Design Innovation Initiative blog.