Build upon creative success urges design campaign

The #includedesign campaign has urged policy makers to revisit proposals to include creative subjects in the English Baccalaureate and build upon the success of initiatives like Tech City. This is the ‘brand’ name for the creative technology community around Shoreditch in east London, with more than 3,000 creative tech firms, employing over 50,000 people. Last December the design industry wrote an open letter to the Secretary of State for Education warning him against the omission of Design & Technology and Art & Design from the EBacc.

Said Joe Macleod, ustwo and #includedesign campaign lead: “For those of us working in Shoreditch we’ve appreciated and supported the government’s Tech City initiative. Any attention, support and investment in this area is a good thing. However, recently we feel Michael Gove’s proposed EBacc has undermined this positive initiative by demonstrating a lack of real understanding when it comes to the needs of companies like ours.”

Under current proposals the EBacc qualification will exclude creative subjects and computer science from the education system – many of which make up key foundations to a successful career within a creative technology company. The campaign, which includes the Design Council, Foster and Partners and IDEO, argues the omission of these subjects will have a direct impact on future talent becoming part of such a vibrant and successful industry.

It adds that start-up companies in Tech City have had major success on the back of blending design and development skills together to make new and innovative products. Both skill-sets play a crucial role in taking ideas from their infancy in early sketches, through to rapid prototyping and development, to finally marketing and launching a product.