Author: Sally Caird

  • Design Council Spark 2017 -last chance November !!

    Design Council Spark 2017 -last chance November !!

    There is still time to apply to the Design Council Spark programme. The Spark programme provides design expertise and finance to help innovators and entrepreneurs develop product ideas and business opportunities. The Design Council are seeking ideas to address 6 key themes: Health & well being Energy & environment Home & life Transport Sport &…

  • From Design to Innovation and Enterprise

    From Design to Innovation and Enterprise

    Trends on UK business start-ups are upward. Companies House data analysed by the Centre for Entrepreneurs showed that new records were set in 2016 with a total of 657,790 new UK businesses. This equates to 75 an hour! Many will be new design-based businesses. The Design Council’s 2015 publication ‘The Design Economy’ valued the contribution of the…

  • Energy and the Environment

    Energy and the Environment

    Dr Sally Caird recently presented her work on smart city energy programmes and the need for evaluation studies to provide evidence of the value and outcomes of city programme design for cities and citizens at an international Energy and Environment Workshop held at The Open University 25th and 26th May, 2017. This was chaired by…

  • Design, Development and Impact of Sustainability Website Resources

    Design, Development and Impact of Sustainability Website Resources

    More than ten years ago, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) funded the design, development and launch of Soil-Net, an innovative, open, online soil education website resource to support school curricula. Soil science has been under-represented in teaching National Curriculum in UK schools, despite recognition of soil as a major global natural…

  • A Tale of Research in Smart Cities

    A Tale of Research in Smart Cities

    The challenge to design the smartest cities has been embraced in most larger UK cities but less is known about how to evaluate and measure the “smartness” of each approach. Smart city programmes are springing up across UK cities, offering solutions for contemporary challenges facing cities associated with population and urbanisation pressures, and bringing opportunities…