The Roadmap for Development of the Irish Design Sector

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs recently published Together for Design: Digital, Product and Strategic Design Skills of the Future. The Expert Group Steering Group was chaired by Andrew Bradley, Managing Director of Bradley. The publication of Together for Design in a seminal moment in the development of the design profession in Ireland. Implementing the recommendations will ensure design practice is embedded into Irish enterprises, as well as our society at large. The report is a wonderful collaboration between designers, academia and enterprise, and it is exciting to see the design community continue this collaborative spirit in its implementation.

The predecessor to this report, Winning by Design (2017), established that design is a crucial component of competitiveness and innovation; and that product, digital and strategic design skills will be increasingly important as digitalisation calls for solutions to significantly complex problems across industry and society. Together for Design is the natural progression of this work, predicting the demand for cross-disciplinary design skills and setting out the next steps for Ireland to realise its potential and become a leader in design thinking.

Some of the key take-outs from the report are:

• Jobs in the design sector have doubled in the last five years.
• Growth in design jobs is triple the national average.
• Currently, Ireland produces around 1,300 design graduates every year. By 2025, the design sector will generate 6,000 new jobs every year.
• The meaning of design has evolved greatly over the past century and, with the fourth industrial revolution, and it is evolving again.
• Design is an important driver of economic growth; integral to both industry and society.

By any measure, the outlook for design in Ireland is very exciting, as the profession truly comes of age. The digital transformation of our society will see the demand for design expedited as enterprises and organisations seek to stand out on-line by enhancing their customer experience.

Brand will define it. Design will create it.

#TogetherForDesign

Full report: download PDF