Designscapes

BACKGROUND - SPECIFIC CHALLENGE (H2020 CALL)

With competitiveness being increasingly based on intangibles and a mix of products and services that respond to users' needs, applying design thinking, tools and methods can improve performance and efficiency in the commercial and public sector. Design-enabled innovation can be considered as a prominent example of "user-driven" innovation, where user involvement in the process is central, as in many cases innovation can better succeed through co-creation. User-centred design thinking and the application of design tools and methods, when applied to services, systems and organisations, enable structured service and business-model innovation, organisational innovation as well as other intangible forms of innovation. The focus is on applying design tools and methods, since this offers a systematic approach to conceive user-driven innovations. ABOUT DESIGNSCAPES

DESIGNSCAPES (Building Capacity for Design enabled Innovation in Urban Environments) is a H2020 project approved under the topic CO-CREATION-02-2016 - User-driven innovation: value creation through design-enabled innovation. The overarching aim of the DESIGNSCAPES project is to exploit the generative potential of urban environments in the highest possible number of European Cities to encourage the uptake and further enhancement and up scaling of Design enabled Innovations by existing enterprises, start-up companies, public authorities and agencies, and other urban stakeholders. Approximately €1.5 million will distributed among 50+ new Design enabled initiatives (as required by the H2020 call) through 3 consecutive yearly rounds of a 3-staged Technical and Financial instrument akin to the US and the Netherlands SBIR program and the SME instrument of the European Commission. BUDGET
ca. 4M Euro, out of which 1,5M Euro will be allocated to 50+ new Design enabled initiatives across Europe.