Industry engagement activities

Designplus has been leading events, facilitating projects and matchmaking people with a shared interest in the economic value of design since 2004. We work with individuals with great design ideas, start-ups, small to medium enterprises (SMEs), charities and large multinationals from all geographic regions to provide applied design support for product and service innovation.

Reasons to connect with Brunel’s design, engineering and innovation expertise:

• Join our network to help broaden and strengthen your connections with leading organisations and designers within academia and industry
• Help steer the creativity and employability of our design students by reviewing/mentoring projects
• Connect with high calibre students and researchers to challenge everyday thinking and identify opportunities for innovation for your business

Co-Innovate is a jointly funded project by Brunel University London and the European Regional Development Fund which connects London-based SMEs with academic expertise and research practices at Brunel University London.

The project provides the tools and support necessary to help businesses innovate, differentiate and compete successfully in the market through collaborative projects with academics and students. The EU funding makes it possible to offer free tailored workshops for our beneficiaries, access to specialised research facilities and support in accessing innovation funding. See how you can get involved.

Companies can gain value from collaborative projects in many ways, whether they are recent start-ups with limited resources for new product development, charities, hospital trusts, multinationals or SMEs interested to work with an enthusiastic designer looking at a brief from a fresh perspective, backed by grounded research and academic rigour.

Our students work in-depth on projects set by industry partners, taking them from an idea through to prototype design (or other defined deliverables). Past projects have included consumer products, digital services, medical devices, lighting, furniture, internet based devices, architectural applications, user-experience design products, screen based products and service design.

Read through our collaborative booklet explaining more here. For more details, please contact Amanda Baker.

Design Factory London are creating a collaborative innovation centre in Brunel, focusing on:

• Teaching human-centred, collaborative innovation to students from all disciplines across the university
• Partner with external organisations from all sectors in developing innovations centred on real-world challenges, opportunities and challenges set by organisations themselves.
• Collaborate across the Design Factory Global Network to develop innovation solutions together, working across national and professional discipline boundaries.