Issue 4 of the SEEdesign Bulletin is now available to download here.
This issue contains an article by Dr Philippa Ashton, Head of Research and Post-Graduate Studies at Bath School of Art and Design, on research carried out by Design Advantage to identify the ‘relative differences between design innovators and design laggards’ in the West Midlands, UK. This research looked at 14 SMEs in order to assess the opportunities for, and obstructions to, design learning in the region.
Dr Frank O’Connor describes the process which has resulted in the formation of the Ecodesign Centre Wales and looks to the future of ecodesign in the country.
There are also interviews with Judit Várhelyi and Geraldo Pougy on design support in Hungary and Brazil. In the ‘Design Support in Practice’ section, two very different projects are outlined: the Des+gn Mais programme, run by the Portuguese Design Centre since 2004, aimed to use design with the specific intention of internationalizing the Portuguese economy and ‘4 Tuesdays on Ecodesign’ are seminars run annually since 2005 by the Design Centre Rhone-Alps, France, to raise awareness of ecodesign among designers and project managers.
The SEEdesign Bulletin is the only periodical publication dedicated to the discussion of issues related to design support, promotion programmes and design policies worldwide. Every six months the SEEdesign partners publish and distribute a new issue including articles, interviews, case studies and news relevant to practitioners and researchers in this area. In some countries, the Bulletin’s articles have been translated to allow access for more readers.
The number of copies printed has risen to 1,200 for this March 2007 issue. Copies have been sent to the partners, who distribute it locally but also to a mailing list of around 700 people