hedersprisen for god design - Norsk Designråd

There’s more to design than meets the eye …
Department Director Ragnhild Rønneberg,
Research Council of Norway, Division for SkatteFUNN Tax Incentive Scheme and
VRI (Programme for Regional R&D and Innovation)
Common goals
The SkatteFUNN Tax Incentive Scheme and the Norwegian
Design Council have a common goal – to help
boost the competitive ability and profitability of Norwegian
industry, by supporting research and development
projects. Although the approaches adopted by
the two organisations may differ somewhat, the
results can be said to bear the hallmark of a joint
focus on systematic R&D work in enterprises! The
Norwegian Design Council performs an important job
in advising and initiating activities in companies in
order to draw their attention to the value of designdriven
innovation. At the same time, it “educates”
companies about key support schemes – e.g. Skatte­
FUNN and BIA (Programme for user-driven Research
based on Innovation) at the Research Council of Norway.
Design as an R&D challenge
The SkatteFUNN scheme receives a wide range of project
applications from many different industries and from both
large and small companies. One of the conditions is that a
clear description of the R&D challenges be provided.
Seeing the innovative in a new “thing” that works as
intended and where the challenges and approach has
been described systematically is generally not a problem.
Seeing the R&D challenges in projects where design comprises
a considerable part of project activities is not always
that simple, however. Often it is difficult to grasp the design
elements when they are integrated in development of the
product or service and they therefore represent much more
than mere “cosmetics”. It is in this process, however, that one
finds the innovative and it is often this element that means the
difference between success and failure – simply put.
Cooperation gives a better understanding
Through several years of cooperation with the Norwegian
Design Council, the advisors at SkatteFUNN have
acquired a better understanding of design as an
important element in product, process and service
development. It is clear that a combination of form,
functionality and appearance are highly important for
brand-building and for the end-user’s sense of identity.
With this perspective, we now feel it is easier to
discover and accept design as a separate element
when assessing a project’s innovative merit. As a
result of this cooperation, we now receive more project
applications where design is better described – and
understood – as part of a company’s R&D challenges.
The Honours Award for Design Excellence
went to a SkatteFUNN project
At SkatteFUNN we are very proud to administer a scheme
where projects that have been approved for their R&D
content also receive recognition by the Norwegian Design
Council. In 2007, several SkatteFUNN companies
received Awards for Design Excellence in the categories
for Industrial Design, Furniture Design and Textile and
Clothing Design. It was also particularly pleasing to see
that Rottefella AS was awarded the Award for Design
Excellence for Industrial Design, and that it also received
the Honours Award for Design Excellence for the product
“Rottefella NTN”, a new Telemark ski binding.
Our collaboration with the Norwegian Design Council
has been highly productive and informative. It is also
our hope that it serves our common purpose: To
strengthen innovative ability in Norwegian industry.
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