Author ORCID Identifier
Vanja Garaj: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1661-597X
Abstract
Collaborations between academia and industry can be an effective way to build capabilities and generate value in design innovation. Department of Design (Brunel Design) at Brunel University London provides different design innovation support programmes to businesses by involving its students and academic and professional staff. This paper presents a literature review on design innovation and its benefits in collaborations between academia and industry. The final goal is to describe the practice of design innovation by Brunel Design through its programmes and the advantages obtained by the stakeholders involved. Each programme description is supported by a case study and the programme benefits are related to the relevant literature. Besides the direct benefits to the businesses involved, such as the development of commercial ideas and capabilities in design, the advantages for the academic community are explained, such as the expansion of the research capacity, education and career development.
Keywords
design practice, design innovation, knowledge exchange, academia–industry
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.243
Citation
Cosco, G., and Garaj, V. (2020) The Practice of Design Innovation in the Academic Context: The Project Portfolio by Brunel Design, in Boess, S., Cheung, M. and Cain, R. (eds.), Synergy - DRS International Conference 2020, 11-14 August, Held online. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.243
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
The Practice of Design Innovation in the Academic Context: The Project Portfolio by Brunel Design
Collaborations between academia and industry can be an effective way to build capabilities and generate value in design innovation. Department of Design (Brunel Design) at Brunel University London provides different design innovation support programmes to businesses by involving its students and academic and professional staff. This paper presents a literature review on design innovation and its benefits in collaborations between academia and industry. The final goal is to describe the practice of design innovation by Brunel Design through its programmes and the advantages obtained by the stakeholders involved. Each programme description is supported by a case study and the programme benefits are related to the relevant literature. Besides the direct benefits to the businesses involved, such as the development of commercial ideas and capabilities in design, the advantages for the academic community are explained, such as the expansion of the research capacity, education and career development.