Comments on: Design and regional economic development, or how the government office learned to love design http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/03/05/design-regional-economic/ Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:50:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: website design http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/03/05/design-regional-economic/#comment-1360 website design Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:03:32 +0000 http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/03/05/design-regional-economic/#comment-1360 One of the main reasons why Britain's creatives are internationally renowned, and so many of them work for foreign companies, is that British industry is awful at innovation. This is not due to a shortage of ideas, but to a lack of the investment needed to bring ideas to market. Britain fell behind its major competitors on this measure over a century ago and has steadily slid down the R&D investment charts ever since. If you discount spending on pharmaceuticals, aerospace and biotechnology, British investment in innovation is pitiful. This steady industrial decline coincided with the blooming of British design. As opportunities within industry dried up, more designers either worked for foreign firms or for consultancies that had to chase work overseas. One of the main reasons why Britain’s creatives are internationally renowned, and so many of them work for foreign companies, is that British industry is awful at innovation. This is not due to a shortage of ideas, but to a lack of the investment needed to bring ideas to market.

Britain fell behind its major competitors on this measure over a century ago and has steadily slid down the R&D investment charts ever since. If you discount spending on pharmaceuticals, aerospace and biotechnology, British investment in innovation is pitiful. This steady industrial decline coincided with the blooming of British design. As opportunities within industry dried up, more designers either worked for foreign firms or for consultancies that had to chase work overseas.

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