Impacting Business By Design

Impacting Business by Design (IBbD) is a Research England-funded initiative designed to enhance business productivity and competitiveness by improving the commercialization of design innovation. It operates as a collaborative venture between Nottingham Trent University, De Montfort University, and Brunel University London. The program supports businesses, particularly startups and SMEs that have not previously worked with professional designers, in bringing new products to the market more efficiently.

IBbD provides access to professional product designers and academic specialists based in studios at the partner universities. The support covers the entire product development cycle, from creating the design brief and conducting user research to concept generation, prototyping, and design for manufacturing. The initiative targets businesses across various sectors, including consumer goods, med-tech, electronics, healthcare, and engineering. The core service is aimed at companies looking to build new capabilities in product design and development.

A key feature of the business model is a de-risking financial mechanism. IBbD operates on a 'repayable advance' or 'no win, no fee' basis. Design fees are covered by a deferred advance, with repayment only required after the new product generates revenues equivalent to four times the value of the support provided. If the product is not commercially successful within an agreed timeframe, the advance is converted into a grant from Research England, and no repayment is due. This model is intended to remove the financial barriers that often prevent SMEs from investing in the early, resource-intensive stages of innovation.

Keywords: product design commercialization, university-industry collaboration, SME innovation support, de-risked design funding, product development cycle, academic design expertise, repayable advance model, new product innovation, design for manufacturing, user-needs research