Design Thinking Training for SME's

Boosting Productivity is broadly about doing more with less, and nothing achieves this more sustainably and repeatedly like Design Thinking. And it doesn't mean becoming a designer, just learning to think like one. Harnessing design capability has been proven to be critical to improving productivity, innovation and performance indicators.

The Design Economy 2018 is the Design Council's report, and headline findings include:

* "More than two-fifths of survey respondents agreed that the use of design within their organisation has contributed to an increase in sales turnover, increased business competitiveness and increased awareness and recognition of the brand and/or raised brand loyalty

* ... When firms invest in design, they are more likely to invest in other intangible assets such as R&D and get them working in synergy to generate new innovations and create additional value

* ...When firms invest in design, they are more likely to generate innovations, resulting in improvements to levels of productivity."

Our project will explore, through both a small randomised pilot and qualitative research:

The challenges and requirements from the findings of previous Design Foundations SMEs tasked with a Design Thinking project
The best ways to engage mid/ low productivity SMEs in order to achieve adoption of programme content and the skills required to practice Design Thinking.
The potential challenges and appropriate evaluation and test methodology for a future funded statistically valid RCT.