it’s interesting to note how fragmented the design world still is! - every two months or so you read or hear about different ‘design initiatives’.
mostly these initiatives are sponsored by governments (if national) or the EU (if international / cross-europe) a further characteristic is that they seem to disappear with same continuity without being noticed except for the design community (if well promoted) or the special discipline like product design etc. (if poorly promoted).
the “european design forum” is likely to be such a candidate. you might ask: what’s this, again? well, this is their mission statement:
“The EDF network aims at presenting a dynamic forum for European cooperation devoted to the exchange of knowledge and experience in the area of design. Through the programme of its activities, the EDF network wants to extend research and knowledge in the field of contemporary design in Europe as well as develop close connections with design centers, museums, schools and academies, taking into account the evolution of design at a professional, educational, cultural, economic and societal level. Moreover, the EDF looks forward to underlining the innovative character of design in Europe corresponding to a contemporary way of thinking. Design is envisaged in relationship to management, communication, education, museography, and culture. This project has been carried out with the support of the European Community.”
I visited their website about a year ago for the last time. at that time it didn’t had that much to offer beside the announcement of some ‘projects’. in the meantime this changed and the site offers some resources which might be of interest particularly for design management students and researchers. however, the main means of communication are their workshops which take place twice a year and will end in a final symposium named: ‘RE:DESIGN/Europe’, in Verona, 17-18-19 March 2005.
those of you who are be interested in design research will find these articles interesting:
in some ways Roberto Verganti transfers theories and concepts from the field of “Innovation and Technology Management” to desgin contexts. this it at least what he presented at the last european DMI conference in cologne in 2003. in any case he’s doing quite the same as I did in my past design mangement workshops for the MBA Design Management at westminster university and as a lecturer for innovation and technology management at the university of regensburg.
in any case this again confirms that design mangement is a theoretical construct which is nurtured by a considerable amount of disciplines. this multitude of sources enables the discipline to stay flexible and relevant.
