Designing a future economy
Published in 2017, this study for Design Council identifies the key skills which differentiate the design economy from other industries and the link between these skills and innovation and productivity within the UK economy. Using the O*Net database from the USA, the study investigates the skills which are associated with design occupations based on the Design Economy definition. It also identifies ‘design active’ occupations, which are those which use design skills but have not previously been associated with the design definition. Detailed analysis of other secondary data was then employed to understand the relationship between design skills and economic outcomes (i.e. business growth, productivity, innovation rates). Lastly, the study examined the training and recruitment patterns within the design economy as well as issues associated with skills gaps and vacancies. This…
Advanced Manufacturing sector profiling
The Ortus team, whilst at TBR, supported Sunderland University to assess the potential demand for and impact of planned investment in developing its offer in the field of advanced manufacturing and engineering. The study involved delivering a demand assessment which estimated the scale of demand for a range of courses, facilities hire and services, gathering evidence from stakeholders regarding potential delivery models and evaluating potential sites for new capital investment. We made recommendations to senior staff regarding a range of options for the location and design of new facilities and educational offers.Specific project objectives included: Produce a sector mapping exercise covering advanced manufacturing in Sunderland and the NELEP area (compared to the UK).Generate estimates of the demand for labour and skills arising from the advanced manufacturing sector in the next…
The Design Economy
Design Council commissioned our team (while at TBR) to undertake an important and ground-breaking research study which articulated the value of design in the UK. The key challenge for Design Council was to present a comprehensive assessment of the value and importance of design to the UK economy. Previous methodologies had been limited in that they relied on vertical definitions of design and therefore covered only a proportion of the sector. Advancements in measuring sector scale and importance had been made in the creative industries, leading to the adoption of new techniques and the acceptance of the results of these techniques by the UK government. Initially, Design Council employed us to deliver a scoping study which explored definitions of the sector and proposed a modified version of the creative industries…