Wyd. specjalne/2011 - Regionalny Ośrodek Informacji Patentowej ...

WIPO Award for Innovative Enterprisesand a research and development centre),in our today’s economy when the priorityis striving for the innovative economy, whichis hard to achieve without good design asshown by the example of the best-developedworld economies?– The Institute of Industrial Design has sixtyyearexperience in popularising design and newproduct developments. Its role was changingalong with the transformations in the economyand I would even say that it was ahead of thosechanges. Our goal is to popularise industrialdesign application at all stagesof the product’s life cycle and to stimulatecreative industry to generate a much highercontribution to GDP. The Institute of IndustrialDesign is the only company in Polandhaving the status of a scientific unit statutorilydealing with design. The activity of the Institute,targeted at broadening the knowledge in the fieldof creating and implementing product innovationswith the use of professional design is in line withgovernmental priorities of the programmes concerningthe involvement of Poland in the developmentof the global knowledge-based economy(KBE) and the actions supporting innovativenessin Polish enterprises. We concentrate on threemain issues: design promotion and popularisation,research and development, and education.The Institute is a strategic advisor to enterprises,public administration authoritiesand designers in the field of design development,its applications and increasingmarket efficiency; methodology of placingnew design products on the market;auditing design products and the designmanagement process; creating the developmentstrategies for enterprises, organisationsand institutions, towns and regionsin the field of creative business. It acts asan intermediary and facilitates the co-operationbetween designers and enterprises, conductsresearch in the area of design, including ergonomicsand new product development;organises national and international exhibitions,conferences, competitions and events promotingdesign, and provides professional knowledge(has its own library, including on-line library).– What tasks are carried out by the Instituteas a leading institution of the Polish design?What actions are taken by the Institute in orderto make the process of acquiring gooddesign by Polish enterprises, including smalland medium-sized ones, more efficient? Onthe other hand, what is done to increaseamong these enterprises and their managementstaff, as well as among our politicaland economic elites the awareness of the importanceof design to the economic development,production innovativeness and higherstandard and quality of living?– For many years we have been advisingcompanies on how to use design to improveproducts, enhance the company’s competitiveposition on the market and create the company’sgood reputation. Apart from individualprojects for our clients, in 2008 we started oneof the biggest design management advisoryprogrammes in the world entitled DYP – “DesignYour Profit” financed by the EU funds. Its goalis to introduce in 550 Polish companies basiccompetence in the area of investing in design.The programme provides specialist knowledge,methodology and practical solutions, thanksto which enterprises and designers learn howto create efficiently innovative design productsand manage their marketing. At the same time,we are building a co-operation network witheconomic centres and institutions, universities,business incubators, technology transfer centres,science and technology parks and internationalorganisations, forming a durable businessenvironment supporting innovation in enterprisesthrough design.Since 1993 we have been organising the prestigiousGood Design competition under the auspicesof the Ministry of Economy. It is anannual programme of monitoring product designon the Polish market, encompassing since 2009also service and e-service design. The exhibitionof awarded works in our seat in ŚwiętojerskaStreet in Warsaw, visited by a huge audience,has also an educative role. Its significancefor creating good taste of consumers and producerson the basis of the presented standardscannot be overestimated. A similar functionis served by the Gdynia Design Days, whichis an international programme implementedtogether with the local self-government of Gdyniaand popularising the Baltic States’ design. Thisis the right place for the designers, entrepreneurs,Tri-City residents and tourists. This eventincludes exhibitions, presentations, designworkshops for children and youth and workshopsfor young designers and entrepreneurs.Entrepreneurs have an opportunity to meetthe designers and the designers have contactwith the customers – addressees of their work.Special attention is paid to beginner designers,whereas experienced studios share their knowledgeand experience.Since 2008 under the auspices of the Ministryof Culture and National Heritage we have beenconducting the scholarship programme YoungDesign for young, resourceful industrial designersready to start professional co-operation with entrepreneurs.In this unique Competition the BusinessAward Committee assesses the marketpotential of the young designers and the awardis granted to this potential and not the projects.The main prize in the competition is the ProfessorWanda Telakowska scholarship amountingto 20 thousand zlotys and, among others, a traineeshipin a prestigious design studio and trainingsraising professional qualifications.We co-operate with the Microsoft Poland companyand the Ministry of Economy on the organisationof the Imagine Cup competition, whose lastyear final was held in Poland. We consider it ourhuge success since it is the biggest internationalcompetition for students related to new technologies,creating a unique combination of youngprogrammers’ creativity and the added valuein the form of design.Since October 2008, together with the WarsawSchool of Economics, we have been conductingpostgraduate studies in design managemententitled “Product design in new productdevelopment management”. These studiesare addressed at the graduates of the studiesin economics and design planning who wishto become product managers in enterprises. Thiswas the first study of this kind in Poland and asappears from the survey on design applicationin Polish enterprises conducted by the Instituteof Industrial Design in 2007, there was a clearneed to educate specialists in the field of newdesign product management. This year we haveintroduced an e-learning platform which willmake it possible to educate product managersin Polish companies who will be aware of the designpotential. The platform is available at www.zsz.com.pl ready to be used.By means of these kinds of activitieswe create favourable conditions for the industrialdesign to become deeply ingrainedin our economy, so that it becomesthe driving force behind its development,as it is the case in other countries.Interview conducted by:Anna Szymańska10 • KWARTALNIK URZĘDU PATENTOWEGO RP Wydanie specjalne