EC bolsters design after Beda meeting

The European Commission has agreed a series of measures intended to bolster the role of design in European innovation policy.

The measures follow a meeting between The Bureau of European Design Associations and the European Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen.

Beda president Michael Thomson has been pressing the EC for a united European design strategy in the face of Asian competition since he was appointed to the post in 2005.

The EC is to publish a guide on design promotion strategies and the use of design in business. It will be distributed to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Other measures agreed include the ‘reinforcing’ of efforts to build up a ‘knowledge base’ of design activity and design policy in Europe, as well as ‘ensuring the existence of a permanent body’ to voice design’s role in European Innovation policy.