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Design Council rebooted to spur on new wave of economic growth

Good design is more than just aesthetics, it goes to the core of the success.

Australian Design Council Executive, Dr. Brandon Gien at his Dover Heights home in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker
Australian Design Council Executive, Dr. Brandon Gien at his Dover Heights home in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Good design is more than just aesthetics, it goes to the core of the success of companies such as Cochlear or Apple and is key to rebuilding the economy out of the COVID-19 recession, according to a newly formed council of the nation’s business leaders.

The Australian Design Council, backed by the Morrison government, has been re-established to champion design as a means to kickstart the economy, formed out of a need identified at the start of the lockdown, and led by veteran business names such as Commonwealth Bank chair Catherine Livingstone, former Dow Chemical chair and manufacturing advocate Andrew Liveris and CSIRO chair David Thodey.

“We let design lag a little bit, and we are trying to recatalyse it, rather than reinvent it,” said Mr Thodey, also a deputy chair of the government’s COVID-19 commission.

“I see the future of our manufacturing as flexible and highly automated with software-driven capabilities, not just static assembly lines.

“It plays into Australia’s ingenuity and creativity, but also our great design … hopefully that will be a catalyst across the economy.”

Citing his time in the top job at Telstra, Mr Thodey counts the design of Australia’s 4G network as a good example of the power of a customer-centric approach, and the country’s ability to lead on the world stage.

“Design is more than just something that is beautifully made, it’s about really creating deep value and to be able to design things to their ultimate perfection is incredibly satisfying,” he said.

Perhaps the best known example of homegrown design thinking is the success of Cochlear, which Ms Livingstone, former chief of the hearing aid maker, said was applying design thinking “before even Apple knew what it was”.

Brandon Gein, the chief executive of the revamped council, described the now $12.7bn Cochlear as an example of “taking great engineering and applying design thinking to expand the value and give a business outcome”.

“We have a fantastically talented design sector, but our businesses and SMEs just are not using design where they should be and leveraging design to its full potential,” Dr Gein said. “This is Australia’s missed opportunity.

“We want to look at how we grow and create an environment where we can grow more Coch­lears or Apples on our home soil.”

The shortage of personal protective equipment at the start of the coronavirus lockdown was a key example of the need to look inward and foster design-led innovation locally, with benefits set to trickle across industries.

“There are a lot of mediocre products out there, where manufacturers are effectively taking a bet and you can tell when you look at it straight away. It makes such a difference to go through the design process and come out with a world-class product,” Dr Gein said.

“A design mindset will underpin the diversification of our economy and help develop new and emerging areas of competitive advantage,” Dr Gein added.

The concept of a design council is not new for Australia — the original concept was established in 1958 to mirror a UK model built by Winston Churchill’s wartime government to foster economic recovery.

In many ways, as the economy faces its first recession in 30 years, there are many similar hurdles.

“After 60 years, we have decided to re-establish the Australian Design Council to address the challenges we are facing today,” chairman Sam Bucolo said. “Design must play a major role in rebuilding our economy post-COVID and the council will shape how we create new and emerging areas for a strong competitive advantage through design. Our global counterparts are already doing this.”

Read related topics:CochlearCoronavirus

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/leadership/design-intervention-to-reboot-economy/news-story/61c8b0ad91306b694635a75e55a6dd43