Design ecosystems and innovation policy in Europe

In 2015, 15 of the 28 European Member States had design included in national innovation policy and between 2012 and 2016, design action plans have been adopted by governments in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland and Latvia as well as by the European Commission. Long misunderstood by companies and government as styling, design is a user-centred approach to problem-solving that can be applied across the private and public sectors. Design has attracted the attention of policy-makers as a factor for innovation as part of a paradigm shift in Europe where the remit of innovation policy is expanding. In the same way that innovation policy is based on an analysis of the Innovation Ecosystem, design researchers have demonstrated that design policy should be based on an analysis of the Design Ecosystem. Finland was the first country to adopt the concept of a National Innovation System to inform innovation policy in 1992 and it was also the first country to adopt the concept of a Design Ecosystem to inform its design policy in 2013. The European Commission’s Action Plan for Design-driven Innovation encourages all European countries to integrate design into innovation policy and develop design action plans. However, this raises the fundamental question of how government can effectively develop design policy. Through a consensus building process with policy-makers, academics and design centre managers, various components of a Design Ecosystem were explored and tested. The processes resulted in a consolidated Design Ecosystem model with nine components: (1) users, (2) support, (3) promotion, (4) actors, (5) designers, (6) education, (7) research, (8), funding, and (9) policy. The Design Ecosystem model advocates that a policy should consider every aspect of the ecosystem to ensure a balance between supply of and demand for design expertise

Design ecosystems and innovation policy in Europe

In 2015, 15 of the 28 European Member States had design included in national innovation policy and between 2012 and 2016, design action plans have been adopted by governments in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland and Latvia as well as by the European Commission. Long misunderstood by companies and government as styling, design is a user-centred approach to problem-solving that can be applied across the private and public sectors. Design has attracted the attention of policy-makers as a factor for innovation as part of a paradigm shift in Europe where the remit of innovation policy is expanding. In the same way that innovation policy is based on an analysis of the Innovation Ecosystem, design researchers have demonstrated that design policy should be based on an analysis of the Design Ecosystem. Finland was the first country to adopt the concept of a National Innovation System to inform innovation policy in 1992 and it was also the first country to adopt the concept of a Design Ecosystem to inform its design policy in 2013. The European Commission’s Action Plan for Design-driven Innovation encourages all European countries to integrate design into innovation policy and develop design action plans. However, this raises the fundamental question of how government can effectively develop design policy. Through a consensus building process with policy-makers, academics and design centre managers, various components of a Design Ecosystem were explored and tested. The processes resulted in a consolidated Design Ecosystem model with nine components: (1) users, (2) support, (3) promotion, (4) actors, (5) designers, (6) education, (7) research, (8), funding, and (9) policy. The Design Ecosystem model advocates that a policy should consider every aspect of the ecosystem to ensure a balance between supply of and demand for design expertise.Keywords: design ecosystem, innovation policy, design policy

A Review of Design Support Programmes in the European Union Countries

No abstract available

Design for circular economy: Developing an action plan for Scotland

In Europe, concern regarding environmental degradation, resource scarcity and price volatility brought about through traditional linear production methods, coupled with the need to enhance the global competitiveness of European business has led to an increased focus on creating the framework condi- tions for a transition to a circular economy. Transition from a linear to circular economy is not straightforward and there are very few existing examples of the transposition of the EU's ‘ Circular Economy Action Plan ’ into national or regional policy. This article reports on a project undertaken in Scotland to develop tangible and realistic policy proposals, aligning market and government needs in order to create favourable conditions for the public and private sector to adopt circular principles. Established theory on innovation ecosystems was adapted to map a ‘ Design for a Circular Economy ’ ecosystem in Scotland. Actions to build on system strengths and address weaknesses were co-developed through interviews, workshops and peer review with key stakeholders in the ecosystem. Twelve actions were developed addressing four major themes: business support and fi nance; skills and education; promotion and awareness; and policy and regulation. The actions varied in scope from groundwork, through instigating change to systemic change. The article concludes by summarising a number of good practices drawn from the experience in Scotland that may be used in other countries looking to develop a circular economy policy framework

A transcriptomics approach to study the molecular mechanisms regulating interleukin-10 gene expression in T helper cells

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an immunoregulatory cytokine that has a vital role in maintaining a balanced and appropriate immune response. CD4+ T helper (Th) cells are important in regulating an effective immune response, and are a dominant source of IL-10. Despite the different signalling pathways that result in the polarisation of each Th subset and lead to the expression of their hallmark cytokines, IL-10 is expressed by all of the different Th subsets. We show that Th1 cells cultured with IL-12 produce IFNγ and small amounts of IL-10, while Th1 cells cultured with IL-12 and IL-27 produce large amounts of IL-10 and IFNγ. Furthermore, we show that Th17 cells can produce IL-10, or not, depending on the presence of IL-2. However, these Th cell populations are phenotypically heterogeneous, particularly with respect production of IL-10 protein. Less than half of each of these in vitro cultured Th cell populations expresses IL-10 or the hallmark cytokine, and co-expression of IL-10 and the hallmark cytokine is also heterogeneous. Therefore we devised and implemented an innovative new technique that enables RNA-Seq analysis of different intracellular cytokine producing cell subpopulations from within Th subsets. We find that it is possible to extract high quality mRNA from Th samples, even though they have been fixed and stained for intracellular cytokines, and that the data from these samples is replicable. Using this technique we have identified potential molecules and pathways by which (I) IL-27 drives IFNγ and IL-10 production by Th1 cells, and (II) IL-2 drives IL-10 production by Th17 cells. Furthermore, by separating different intracellular cytokine producing subpopulations within different Th1 and Th17 cell subsets we have found that cytokine producing and non-cytokine producing subpopulations within heterogeneous Th subsets have significantly different transcriptional profiles and that some pathways and molecules are enriched in IL-10 producing cells

Simulated alkaline hydrothermal vent environments to investigate prebiotic metabolism at the origin of life

There is still little agreement today about where life may have started on Earth. Prebiotic studies over several decades have successfully synthesised many molecules of life, yet the results display strikingly little congruence to the biochemistry of cells today. In contrast, alkaline hydrothermal vents offer conditions very similar to those harnessed by modern autotrophic cells, while providing a physical structure for a prebiotic metabolism that resembles the vectorial biochemistry of extant cells. Alkaline vents have not received much attention in experimental investigations, even though they have many features that point to their ability to drive prebiotic chemistry. This study set out to simulate inorganic, catalytic barriers equivalent to those that are thought to have existed inside early alkaline vent systems. These structures were then used to investigate the reduction of CO2 by H2, driven by natural proton gradients transecting semi-conducting barriers containing catalytic FeS minerals. Simple organics such as formaldehyde were successfully synthesised and observed to be closely associated with the precipitates. The next step examined potential prebiotic reactions that could have preceded modern metabolic processes. Methyl thioacetate and thioacetic acid have been suggested as possible precursors of acetyl-coenzyme A, therefore its synthesis from the 1-carbon precursors methyl sulphide and formate was attempted. Finally the synthesis of a plausible prebiotic analogue of ATP, acetyl phosphate, was demonstrated from the 2-carbon precursor thioacetate under ambient and mild hydrothermal conditions. Acetyl phosphate was shown to drive both phosphorylation and condensation reactions equivalent to ATP, in water, notably the formation of two key activated precursors of RNA synthesis, ribose phosphate and adenosine monophosphate. The results suggest that alkaline hydrothermal systems could indeed drive the beginnings of a prebiotic metabolism more congruent with living cells, and point to future research into this hypothesis

Co-designing design fictions:a new approach for debating and priming future healthcare technologies and services

Background Design fictions (DFs) are emerging as a tool aimed at engaging people in debating and questioning the direction of future technologies, services and possible societies. Following the challenges placed on healthcare provision by an ageing population, governments are introducing policies related to ageing that will shape future healthcare services. The exploratory ProtoPolicy project, investigated how co-created DFs might be used to help older citizens imagine the future implications of policy initiatives through the lens of technology in an ageing society. Methods A co-design research approach was employed. In collaboration with older citizens (n=21, 65-94 years old) the project team co-created two DFs based on citizen responses to government policy, which explored the issues of assisted living/smart-homes and assisted dying/ euthanasia in the UK. Feedback on the DFs was sought from citizens at a co-design workshop. Results Five themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the workshop engagements with citizens: increasing the plausibility and acceptance of future healthcare technologies and services, raising ethical concerns and questions, conceptualising new healthcare producs and services, helping with understanding and decision-making, and service/technology requirements capture. Conclusions Understanding and engaging with more complex social healthcare technologies through a co-design design fiction approach might provide added value for citizens in priming new technology introduction in healthcare services. Co-designing design fictions can also provide researchers with more in-depth insights about the preferable futures articulated by different groups within the context of technology and healthcare services

Acetyl Phosphate as a Primordial Energy Currency at the Origin of Life

Metabolism is primed through the formation of thioesters via acetyl CoA and the phosphorylation of substrates by ATP. Prebiotic equivalents such as methyl thioacetate and acetyl phosphate have been proposed to catalyse analogous reactions at the origin of life, but their propensity to hydrolyse challenges this view. Here we show that acetyl phosphate (AcP) can be synthesised in water within minutes from thioacetate (but not methyl thioacetate) under ambient conditions. AcP is stable over hours, depending on temperature, pH and cation content, giving it an ideal poise between stability and reactivity. We show that AcP can phosphorylate nucleotide precursors such as ribose to ribose-5-phosphate and adenosine to adenosine monophosphate, at modest (~2%) yield in water, and at a range of pH. AcP can also phosphorylate ADP to ATP in water over several hours at 50 °C. But AcP did not promote polymerization of either glycine or AMP. The amino group of glycine was preferentially acetylated by AcP, especially at alkaline pH, hindering the formation of polypeptides. AMP formed small stacks of up to 7 monomers, but these did not polymerise in the presence of AcP in aqueous solution. We conclude that AcP can phosphorylate biologically meaningful substrates in a manner analogous to ATP, promoting the origins of metabolism, but is unlikely to have driven polymerization of macromolecules such as polypeptides or RNA in free solution. This is consistent with the idea that a period of monomer (cofactor) catalysis preceded the emergence of polymeric enzymes or ribozymes at the origin of life

Rethinking Informed Consent Requirements for Pragmatic Comparative Effectiveness Trials

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for more and higher quality evidence of the comparative effectiveness of different health technologies. Much of the comparative effectiveness research (CER) designed to address this demand will compare widely-used technologies and will be closely integrated with clinical care. These design features raise the question of whether current standards of informed consent should always be required for CER studies. Considering the acceptability of alternatives to informed consent is important as alternatives may improve the efficiency and quality of this research. This dissertation considers whether alternatives to informed consent are morally and socially acceptable by addressing three aims, each of which is explored in a separate paper. Aim one explores which alternatives to informed consent are acceptable to key stakeholders for low-risk CER trials of widely-used therapies. To address this aim, interviews were conducted with institutional review board members and researchers and focus groups were conducted with patients at two health systems. The results demonstrate that many participants felt that although it was important for eligible individuals to be informed about CER trials, it was acceptable to streamline the amount of information disclosed and to ask individuals to opt-out if they would prefer not to participate. Aim two considers which alternatives to prospective informed consent are morally permissible for CER studies. Addressing this aim, paper two is a moral analysis that argues that when enrolling individuals in these activities, it is sometimes acceptable to limit individual choice in situations where the decision to participate is unlikely to engage important self-determination interests that individuals have. Based on this argument, several recommendations regarding the moral permissibility of altering consent requirements for CER are provided. Aim three develops preliminary policy recommendations for reforming the informed consent regulations. Building on aims one and two, paper three suggests that it may be appropriate to streamline disclosure statements for low-risk CER trials and that it may also be appropriate to ask participants to opt-out instead of opt-in. However, in order for policy change to occur, it is necessary to continue to build the case for the importance of conducting CER studies