Cisco division sets up European design HQ

The Linksys European Design Centre will create networking hardware for the home and small office, as well as packaging and branding products. It will also conduct research into market trends.

Cisco director of customer experience Clive Grinyer is hailing the design centre as a ‘really exciting development’. Grinyer, based in London, joined Cisco from Orange earlier this month.

Linksys senior manager of industrial design Eskild Hansen will lead the team of six designers at the centre, near Copenhagen. The World Economic Forum recently ranked Denmark as the most networked country in the world.

Hansen says, ‘European consumers are becoming more design conscious and Denmark is in many ways leading this trend. It was an obvious choice to establish the centre here.’

He adds, ‘We see design as more than simply designing a product – it includes the packaging, interaction, user interface and customer service.’

The studio is equipped with a 3D model printer in an attempt to allow the European and US design teams to collaborate more easily.

The networking product manufacturer has plans to open design centres worldwide, and to expand into other design disciplines.