Cranfield University in the O2C Arc gets (even more) creative!

Cranfield University and University of the Arts London are set to launch a new Master’s degree in Innovation and Creativity in Industry, providing the next generation of business leaders with invaluable creative, technology and business skills. The collaboration will bring together both universities’ expertise in arts and design and engineering to deliver a novel Masters’ degree in design (MDes) that aims to provide future leaders with an understanding of how to exploit creativity within technology organisations.

The new one-year programme, starting in October this year, addresses the 2005 Cox Review of ‘Creativity in Business’ that found that in order for UK businesses to be globally competitive and improve productivity, it is vital they drive design into the heart of engineering, technology and management processes. The MDes will be run through the UK’s first national Centre for Competitive Creative Design, named C4D – a £3.5m collaborative initiative with University of the Arts London due to be built on the Cranfield campus.

The aim of C4D is to encourage students, lecturers, researchers and industry partners to explore creativity and use design as a core driver to improve innovation and competitive practice in UK and global industries. The new course will be delivered at both Cranfield University and University of the Arts London’s School of Graphic Design based at London College of Communication. Mike Goatman, MDes Course Director, said: “The course will teach students to apply design thinking in technology driven organisations – an approach which improves the whole business operation. The benefits of this can be seen in companies like Apple and Nokia who have successfully fused these elements in a holistic approach to make some outstanding products, such as the iPod.” Mike Bradshaw Dean of Graphic Design at University of the Arts London said: “In the modern knowledge based economy one cannot put a price on creativity; it is what makes the UK’s creative industry so dynamic.

This new qualification is further proof of the commitment of University of the Arts London to support UK business by providing the skilled, innovative and creative workforce it needs to succeed.”

For more information about Master of Design ‘Innovation and Creativity in Industry’ please see http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas/competitivedesign/