USER FACTOR aims to strengthen innovation in the Atlantic Area by transferring models for design support programmes between innovation support organisations. The beneficiaries are both innovation support organisations exploiting complementarities across the Area and 200 SMEs participating in 8 design support programmes. ‘80% of European SMEs believe that the user is important in the innovation process but only 10% of SMEs actually involve users in concept development and prototype testing’ (German Ministry for Economic Affairs, 2015).
Design is an accessible method for analysing user needs and involving users in developing and testing products and services. Innovation support organisations also recognise the importance of design for user-driven innovation but many lacks the expertise to fully integrate design into their support programmes.
FUNDING
This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme.
CONSORTIUM
