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Design scoreboard: Capturing design spending in firms

The value of design is increasingly recognised, but design is often overlooked in favour of R&D in the measurement of innovation. Design is difficult to define, which makes it difficult to measure in financial terms. R&D was previously considered difficult to measure, but, as it is now well defined, financial measures of R&D have been established. Several previous studies demonstrated the commercial value of design, but failed to propose a reliable approach to capture design spending at the level of the firm. This paper presents a framework for classifying design activities and capturing design spending in firms. A number of exploratory case studies were conducted, four of which are described, to explore how companies understood design and how it could be measured. A conceptual model, by which the extent of design activity in firms may be better understood, is proposed. This model will be used as the basis of questions in a survey of design spending in UK firms.