Europe as a global powerhouse of design for sustainable competitiveness

Innovation and competitiveness are driven to an ever-greater degree by cultural dimensions and creativity. Successful new digital and physical products and services need to be not only functional but also appealing and attractive, adapted to cultural traits and market needs.

The process of creating or adapting products, services, processes or business models to human needs and desires, commonly called design, is key not only for competitiveness but also for environmental sustainability and cultural affirmation. It is widely acknowledged that the environmental impact of a product is largely determined at the design stage. The same also holds for digital products or services.

Building on Europe’s world-renowned cultural heritage, well-educated and talented workforce, craftmanship and strong creative traditions, European design is in many ways considered world leading. Large parts of the European economy rely on top-notch design for competitiveness, such as for instance luxury and high-end goods, fashion or the automotive industry. It is estimated that design-intensive industries employ around 27 million persons in the EU, representing around 13% of total employment and more than 15% of GDP[[ See for instance European Union Intellectual Property Office, Report ‘Women in Design’ (April 2023).]].

Despite its outsize importance for future prosperity and societal and planetary wellbeing, design and its role in driving innovation and competitiveness have not been sufficiently researched. While being one of Europe’s key competitive strengths, the European design sector and design professionals are structurally vulnerable and face a challenging pace of drastic changes. For instance, ever more powerful ‘generative artificial intelligence’ tools become capable of automating tasks previously requiring high levels of skills, while challenging new expectations in terms of reducing the environmental impact of products and services are added.

The challenge is to deepen evidence-based understanding of the European design sector and design professionals, and devise effective methods to strengthen the sector and make Europe a global powerhouse of design for sustainable competitiveness. Such methods may include new or adapted technological solutions, conceptual frameworks as well as innovative business models[[ Such innovative business models may be based on ‘circular economy’ principles and design for circularity.]] and policies. The proposed solutions should to the extent possible be effective as well as economically and politically feasible and culturally acceptable across the diversity of EU member states and associated countries, as well as across different economic sectors. Thus, a wide range of stakeholders should be involved, in accordance with the focus chosen.

Proposals are not expected to address all aspects, subsectors or applications of design, but should choose a focus that can be expected to deliver a significant impact.

Solutions may involve the use of platforms or networks to facilitate sharing investments, facilities or competencies among actors. In such cases, established platforms, networks or clusters should be taken into account, to avoid duplication of efforts.

Proposals should, to the extent appropriate, build on existing knowledge[[ For instance the work of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) working group of Member States experts on “Stimulating the green transition of cultural and creative sectors” might be relevant.]], activities and networks, notably the ones funded by the European Union. In particular, findings and results from projects funded under the topics ‘Cultural and creative industries for a sustainable climate transition’ of the 2023 and 2024 calls of Horizon Europe Cluster 2 may be taken into consideration, and cooperation may be sought with the collaborative platform ‘EKIP’[[ See further https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101112111]] or its successor.