During two years EDTI Partners have benchmarked, audited and researched the Continuous Professional Development related to design. The white book gathers major findings and recommendations to stakeholders to foster prosperity in the design sector and in the European economy at large.

EDTI Partners will also present the next stage of development for this collaborative initiative, opening the collaborative network, and providing new tools, material and useful information to be used by those involved in the Continuous Professional Development in the design domains.

Lack of recognition was one of the most commonly voiced concerns raised by designers and design graduates in EDTI’s qualitative surveys. The perceptions design buyers have of design and the designer’s role obviously needs to change. This is the reason why EDTI is striving to build a strong
European network to bring designers and business closer together.

The task for the future is to interweave design education and training with the ever-changing dynamic business environment, especially with the needs of the small and medium sized enterprises, which are the backbone of the European economy.

Be part of it. Share your views with us and discover how EDTI can make a difference to you. Help us contribute to Europe’s economy by incorporating and recognising design as the force for user-centred innovation.

Target audience:
This interactive event is aimed at design media, policy makers, design teachers, curriculum developers, designers, civil servant, students, and those from business education, business support organisations, and design institutions and associations.

Programme:
14:00 – Registration
14:30 – Welcome by Lesley Morris, Head of Design Skills at the Design Council
14:45 – Design: So what and who cares? Outcomes of the EDTI project and recommendations to fostering continuous professional and business development in the design industry
15:30 – Questions and answers
16:00 – Coffee break
16:30 – What next for EDTI: opening the collaborative network and providing new tools, material and useful information to stakeholders in the Continuous Professional Development
17:30 – Questions and answers
18:00 – Conclusion

Practical information
• Where: Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London, Great Britain
• When: 18 December 2009
• Fee: free of charge
Language: English

Registration here

Organised by: European Design Training Incubator (EDTI)
With the support of:
• European Union
• Design Council
• Robert Gordon University, Gray’s School of Art

About the European Design Training Incubator
The ‘European Design Training Incubator’ (EDTI) is an EU network project within the Leonardo da Vinci programme. EDTI covers the whole range of learning focused on professional practice in design.
By benchmarking design education and training in the context of the lifelong learning, the core idea behind EDTI is to establish a common European platform where design-related organisations can audit existing training provision, identify needs and share and coordinate training development and its implementation.

Under the coordination of ‘design innovation’, the 6 partners were chosen because of their specific expertise in the field, they are ‘design innovation’, (Belgium), designkunst (Germany), Business Support Center for SMEs – Ruse (Bulgaria), Cirtes (France), Estonian Design Centre (Estonia), Gray’s School of Art, the Robert Gordon University (United Kingdom).

The vision of EDTI is to support the creative industries in Europe through design training and education.

Contact:
Thierry Van Kerm, design innovation (Belgium) and EDTI coordinator: thierry.vankerm@designinnovation.be
Jérôme Thabourey, Cirtes (France): jerome.thabourey@cirtes.fr
Christina Kasparian, Business Support Centre – Ruse (Bulagaria): christi@bsc.rousse.bg
Stuart Mc Donald, Robert Gordon University, Grays School of Arts (United Kingdom): s.w.macdonald@rgu.ac.uk
Ruth Melioranski, Estonian Design Centre (Estonia): ruth.melioranski@disainiinstituut.ee
Sybs Bauer, designkunst (Germany): sybs@designkunst.com