Design Integration Program
Design Victoria is developing and piloting a Design Integration Program to improve the competitiveness of Victorian companies, from October 2010. The focus of the program is on integrating world-class design practices and processes into Victorian companies. This will enable them to build design capability that can contribute to competitive advantage.
Design Victoria has engaged Equip Design Integration Consultants, New Zealand to adapt their successful Designshift model to suit Victoria’s needs and to train audit teams and Design Victoria staff to deliver two pilots in 2011.
Currently being selected and formed are the companies that will undergo the audit assessment and the Audit teams, comprising Business Analysts, Branding Designers and Product Designers, that will be responsible for evaluating the companies’ current level of design capability and capacity to benefit from employing design as a fundamental business discipline and key driver.
Through the audit process the companies’ understanding of their existing culture will be determined and how receptive they are to being influenced by design.
A culture that understands and values design and which requires design to achieve its vision, is critical to design integration.
About the Program
The Design Integration Program (DIP) sets out to achieve effective integration of design thinking and world-class design practices into businesses that wish to achieve and sustain international competitiveness. It is essentially a capability development program.
The program is built around four key stages.
- Stage One is the engagement phase. It identifies and engages with the companies that can most benefit from design integration.
- Stage Two is a capability audit. It assists selected companies to identify opportunities to add value through design and it reveals the capability gaps that need to be bridged to achieve this.
- Stage Three is a capability development plan, which is focused on realising the opportunities identified in the audit.
- Stage Four is a mentoring framework aimed at closing the immediate knowledge gap and enabling the recipient business to more effectively implement the plan.
The program is tailored to the needs of agencies that are delivering business support and improvement services and their client businesses. It has been employed in the Better by Design program in New Zealand and has also been adopted for the Ulysses program in Queensland.
The Design Integration Program is pragmatic in its approach. It sets out to create cultural and capability transformation without necessarily demanding a change in business model. It achieves this through a short but intense intervention that exposes the leaders and management of the business to new ways of thinking and acting. It ultimately empowers and enables businesses to better manage the use of design in product and market development by making it a fully integrated capability.
Program Description
The DIP pilot will initially target Victorian owned and based SMEs in the manufacturing sector and will assist participating companies to assess and improve the use of design across all business activities, including competitive and organisational strategy and, in turn, will also assist designers to better understand and engage with the needs of business. The program will include peer-to-peer learning opportunities/networks and provide case studies on best practice deployment of design.
The program will include an in depth investigation and analysis of a company’s design capability conducted by a specialist audit team comprising product/industrial designer, branding specialist and business specialist, the development of a plan to improve capability and address shortcomings identified through the audit; and mentoring support to assist the company to successfully implement the plan.
Eligibility Criteria for participation in Program Pilot
The Victorian Government, through RMIT University’s Design Victoria unit, will select companies to participate in the pilot, that meet the following criteria:
- Victorian owned and based in the manufacturing sector
- $5m to $100m annual revenue
- Financially stable and in operation for a minimum of five years.
- Already using some design in some areas of business
- Ambitious, planning and capable of growth
- Exporting
- CEO / Owner and Board support, including owner’s commitment to perform the Design Sponsor role.
- IP generating (actual or potential)
Selection Process
The selection process will include an expert assessment (by audit team, utilising Design Score Card) of the applicant’s growth potential, business model, cultural fit and ability to invest in design.
For more information
Please contact Gary Haywood, Design Integration Program Manager, Design Victoria on 9925 4145 or by email gary.haywood@designvic.com
