Abstract

A renewed interest in the positive impact of design in industry during the last few years, especially regarding the measurement of that impact, has produced a number of studies and research in the field. All these studies have contributed significantly to increasing the acceptance of design in business, however it is still not totally clear what is the position of design within the business structure and its contributions to other functions in the organisation like innovation. In this paper we present the results of a National survey done in the UK between 2015 and 2016. The purpose of this paper is to provide academics, policy makers, and business support organisations with the insights from this study on the current use of design and potential relationship between design and innovation amongst UK firms today and to consider what this means for the future of design in business.