Business Insights: Profiting by Design

Application of design is key to increasing profitability of Scottish businesses conference will be told next week.

Multi-million pound businesses, Optos and Linn Products to show how high-tech design is making Scotland a world leader
Realtime Worlds to show how Scotland is at the cutting edge of the global gaming market
Proven Energy demonstrate how Scotland is poised to maximise potential of the renewable energy market
International business guru, René Carayol to be facilitator for the day.
Business Insights: Profiting Business by Design conference on 18 September in Dundee.

The future is bright, or at least Scotland's future could be bright. As markets become increasingly global and the country faces ever-stronger competition, both from developed and developing economies, new strategies will be needed to keep ahead of the game. "Because of its unique heritage and capability Scotland is in fact well placed to be ahead of the global game." says Janice Kirkpatrick, Chair of The Lighthouse, Scotland's national Architecture and Design Centre and director of Glasgow-based Graven Images, one of the UK's leading design consultancies, "but only if it learns from its old creative industries to value the contribution that design and the new Creative Industries can make to its future success." So is Scotland ready to embrace the design innovation agenda? Ironically in a nation historically celebrated for innovation and invention the business sector has become increasingly adrift in recognising that investment in creativity is a key if not the key to business growth. Recent research showed that less than 25% of Scottish businesses see design as an aide to effective competition, (by comparison with areas of the UK where this figure already sits at 60%). A one-day conference next week, targeted specifically at the SME sector, aims to start to change attitudes by offering insights into how Scotland's businesses can maximise potential, compete effectively and profit by design.

Why does design matter in business? How can design be used to enter new markets successfully? What impact can design have on both service and product development? How can design be used to succeed in global markets? All of these topics and more will be explored in sessions presented by a broad spectrum of business leaders whose own use of design has resulted in company growth, increased market share and greater profits. The value of design and the contribution that design can make to the future competitiveness of Scottish businesses is recognised by the Scottish Government. Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, Linda Fabiani, said:

"Design is already making a major contribution to the Scottish economy through its application across a wide range of industries. As the businesses showcased in this important conference demonstrate, Scotland can be a world leader. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the design and technology sector to ensure a strong future for the whole Scottish economy."

Sir George Cox in his review in creativity and the economy commissioned by Gordon Brown wrote: "To create a viable, attractive future for the UK economy, companies and industries will need to produce innovative, high-quality, high value-added products and services, and bring them quickly and effectively to market." Presenting a key case study on the potential for Scottish businesses to profit from high value-added products is Douglas Anderson OBE, who during a successful 30-year business career has founded and developed four high-tech start up companies identifying and plugging gaps in a number of markets Currently Chairman of Edinburgh based Crombie Anderson Associates, a multi disciplinary design consultancy, and Founder/Director of Dunfermline-based Optos, which successfully developed and brought to market the Panoramic200 (currently the preferred standard offered by over 3000 eye-care specialists in the USA). Anderson is clear that innovative design is the key to the company's unquestioned success (the most recent reporting figures have seen revenue rise to over $40 million for the first half of the current financial year with a 60% rise in operating profit). Douglas Anderson says " The Optos' mission was based upon the personal observation of a real life diagnostic problem that everyday retinal exams seemed difficult, intrusive, inaccessible and to vary greatly in quality, often resulting in a low standard of care delivered. In it's essence Optos' business success has been achieved because of its effective use of design to deliver a solution that is easy to use, accessible to the patient and provides a consistent high quality examination thereby substantially raising the standard of care provided by those who use it."

Equally successful in using high value product to enter and develop markets in Dundee-based Realtime Worlds, initial creator of one of a global leader - Grand Theft Auto. The company recently announced a $31 Million financing package from one of the world's leading venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (NEA), to build new industry-leading video game franchises. "NEA is a thought leader in the global investment community," said Ian Hetherington, Chairman of Realtime Worlds at the time of the announcement. "The quality of this commitment is a reflection of the technological and creative ability that exists at Realtime Worlds." Two leading representatives from the company will discuss how it was able to attract this major investment and how it will enable the company to grow.

If product development is one route to increased profitability, getting those products to market effectively is an equally important contributor. Stewarton-based Proven Energy has successfully developed a range of products to meet the growing need of the renewable energy market, and marketed them internationally. A key contributor to its profitability has been the application of design across the board from product to process, enabling the company to reduce the time it takes to get products to market and thereby to get ahead of the competition. Jonathan Nowill of Proven Energy will discuss the benefits that the across the board approach has brought to the company

Design is however not limited to product development. As a tool in business development it can be applied across a wide variety of operations from market positioning through branding to service enhancement. "Design should apply to every aspect of a business how it organises and conducts its people and operations and how it configures its products, brands and markets," asserts Ivor Tiefenbrun MBE, Chairman and Managing Director of market leading Linn Products "In Adam Smith's time, wealth was created by people specialising to increase throughput. Today, especially now that automation is relatively cheap and widely available, skilled people are once again the critical scarce resource. The challenge is to do justice to the skills and imagination of all employees. This approach should impact on everything a company does from concept through the design, supply and manufacturing chain to sales, service and marketing.

The conference will be facilitated by internationally renowned business guru René Carayol. MBE. An advisor to many leading blue chip and global companies whose work has also included projects with policy makers including the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Carayol will challenge the speakers and delegates with awkward, uncomfortable, but essential questions. How do you change old-fashioned, risk-adverse processes that are ill suited to emerging global markets? How do you secure and nurture talents of a new generation of managers and staff? How do you overcome cynicism and complacency, and replace them with resolve?

"Design has undoubtedly become a vital ingredient for growth," says Nick Barley, Director of the Six Cities Design Festival, which is hosting the conference as part of a programme of events spreading the word about what design can bring to the broader business sector. "We hope to bring home the message that competitors at home and abroad are both embracing the design agenda and making it work for them. Can Scottish businesses afford to let this opportunity pass by?"

Business Insights: Profiting Business by Design will take place at the Apex Hotel Dundee on Tuesday 18 September 2007. For further information visit www.six-cities.com/conference.