Design is growing in popularity. It is one of the most accessible approaches to in­novation, as a people-centred activity by which desir­able and usable products and services are defined and delivered. As such, it has been growing rapidly among big companies, as well as in public sector for citizen-cen­tred transformation. However, design is still a vague and underutilised concept among smaller business.

It was in this context that User-Factor supported 246 micro, small and medium companies across the Atlantic Area region through design training, mentoring, tailored advice services, direct design intervention and  improvement of existing design support programmes. The main goal of the project was to exchange best practices in user-cen­tred design and design-driven innovation support for small and medium enterprises, and then to test design support delivery in Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This was done in order to find out what are the specific requirements of SMEs regarding the provision of design support, and what are the main challenges that need addressing in future support programmes

As the project comes to a close, the Final Report providing insights and recommendations for businesses based on the project’s interregional learning process and testing of various modes of design support alongside almost 250 SMEs has been published.

You can access the Final Report here.