FUNDACIÓN BCD PARA LA PROMOCIÓN DEL DISEÑO INDUSTRIAL
Barcelona centre de Disseny / BcD

DESIGN FOR INNOVATION #innovation #europeanfundedproject #designpolicy

(https://www.interregeurope.eu/design4innovation/). (project extension /on-going).

A collaborative project with 7 other participating European regions: Wales (UK), Flanders (Belgium), Macedonia (Greece), Latvia, Malta, Silesia (Poland ) and Galicia, working together to promote design as a tool for user-centred innovation. The project aims to help small and medium enterprises create more desirable products and services, be more profitable and grow faster; ultimately  enhancing competitiveness of European SMEs.

After a process of interregional learning, knowledge exchange and identification of good practices for three years, on instruments to support design in the operational programs of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), at the beginning of 2020 a Design Action Plan for Catalonia was delivered to the European Commission, which includes a series of concrete actions to promote design as an engine for innovation, competitiveness and sustainable growth of the Catalan business fabric.

From this action plan, which can be consulted through of the link, in 2021 a monitoring work has been carried out, which will last until mid-2022, which aims to ensure that the measures proposed in this plan can become real instruments to support Catalan SMEs.

The project, started in 2017, corresponds to the "Action Plan for Design-Based Innovation" of the European Commission (2013), which recognizes design as an "accessible tool for user-centered innovation and driven by the market in all sectors of the economy. "

INSPIRED IN BARCELONA #internationalisation #digital

(website: https://www.inspiredinbarcelona.com).

A platform to bring prescribers and potential international buyers closer, and in general to audiences likely to consume local creativity. From the platform, we promote creative talent and design inspired in Barcelona (companies, professionals and inspiring projects linked to the creative industries) with an international scope. The platform is a pioneering virtual space in terms of the digitization of the international promotion of design in particular and of creative industries in general, an essential project today for the creative sector due to its multiplier effect and in line with the objectives of digital transformation to improve the productivity and competitiveness of SMEs and entrepreneurs (Next Generation Europe).

In the medium term, the platform plans to include a space for the commercialization of creative production in the format of an innovative marketplace to facilitate the internationalization mainly of creators, small companies and the most emerging projects, building a reputation at international level and allowing them to open up to new audiences and markets.

ZINKCAT-MKT #digital #innovation

(website: https://www.zink.cat).

A project which seeks to develop a new protocol for designers and marketing agencies which allows them to establish the conceptual foundations to create a connected design and to improve the user experience. It is an innovation project which comes within the RIS3CAT Media Community, a grouping of companies and agents from the cultural and creative industries, and from Catalonia’s Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) system, the central challenge of which is to support growth and change in the Creative Industries.

DATEMATS #innovation #materials #europeanfundedproject

(website: https://www.datemats.eu).

A European knowledge transfer project for emerging materials, with the aim to develop and implement new training methods for design and engineering students, and to encourage the transfer of knowledge from research centres to companies and start-ups through workshops.

CIRCULAR DESIGN #innovation #circulareconomy #europeanfundedproject

(website: http://circulardesigneurope.eu).

A European project to promote sustainable production and consumption of products and services in Europe through design, as a enabler in developing innovative solutions to current challenges – approaches that must consider the needs of end users and integrate sustainability criteria in processes and strategies for creating products and services-.

INPREDI #innovation #circulareconomy #regionalfundedproject

(On-going). A local project based on the development of a cross-sector study for the introduction of recycled plastics through design, in collaboration with the company specialized in circular economy Oiko Design Office, member of the Design Cluster. The purpose of the project is to map the real needs and objectives of the market, taking into account the technical, aesthetic and regulatory conditions associated with each economic sector, as well as the requirements from design professionals. The main outcomes to reach through the project's tasks are technical and methodological tools, which will allow professionals (both manufacturers and designers) to introduce in an effective way recycled plastics as a substitute for other primary and higher-impact materials.