Emerging bridges between design, technology and business education a year after the Cox Review March 21, 2007

"The Cox Review of Creativity in Business, published in 2005, called for the UK to more effectively exploit its creative capabilities. It suggested that multidisciplinarity in higher education would be an effective driver of innovation. Recommendations included better preparing students ‘to work with, and understand other specialists’, and ‘the establishment of centres of excellence for multi-disciplinary courses that combine management studies, engineering and technology with design and the creative arts’.

Last autumn, a delegation of academics, officials and policy makers visited universities and design firms in the US to look at new ways that multidisciplinary collaborations were manifesting themselves in higher education and in professional practice.

Work to develop this activity in UK universities is happening on several fronts and regions; some led by business schools, while others are led by design and engineering faculties. In some cases the key drivers are research interests, in others they are driven by regional development priorities and in others through a demand from students.

The purpose of this event is to share knowledge and experiences of UK HEIs working at the intersection of engineering, design and business management education, to share findings from the US mission and to discuss barriers and development opportunities for multidisciplinary activities and national policy.

There will be several brief presentations, followed by group debate and a panel discussion.

The event will be hosted by Lesley Morris, Head of Design Skills at the Design Council and Lucy Kimbell, Clark Fellow in Design Leadership at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School."

Official Website: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/