LDA boosts Designing Demand programme

The London Development Agency has announced it is to partner with Design London and accountant Grant Thornton to deliver Designing Demand, the Design Council’s national business programme, in the capital.

Design London, the higher education collaboration between the Royal College of Art, Imperial College London and the Tanaka Business School, will give the LDA access to design experts and resources for the £3.5m programme, while Grant Thornton will provide corporate finance and investor knowledge.

The design support programme, overseen by LDA design manager Richelle Harun, will launch in June and aims to improve more than 600 small to medium enterprises based in the capital over the next three years.

The Designing Demand programme aims to introduce business to the benefits of design by engaging with companies across the UK through regional development agencies and other partners, such as higher education bodies.

It is already working with Yorkshire Forward, the East Midlands Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, the South East England Development Agency, the South West of England Regional Development Agency and One North East.

The announcement comes during the week when the Government has set out its innovation strategy, in which design has a marked role to play.