Positioning creative, three dimensional design practice and understanding its role and value in university health research and development projects

The success or failure of new product innovations depend upon many, complex and often competing demands. These range from market conditions, availability of technology, psychology of consumer acceptance to the fundamental reasons for a particular product or technology existing in the first instance. The role of universities in this mix can compound success or failure issues further. Where there may be a desire and ambition to improve the quality of life of a population through new scientific or clinical discovery, often translating those discoveries to real world application is challenging. The Wilson report, commissioned by the UK Government, 'A Review of Business–University Collaboration' highlights some of the issues universities and industry face and states that “There is no simple model for interaction; the diverse business needs and diversity of supply from universities leads to complexity in relationships” (Wilson, 2012). Based on the experiences of the authors of this paper and through a number of short health research and product development case studies this paper presents and discusses a theoretical model developed to help build greater understanding and demonstrate the value of design practices value in university and industry collaborations. It identifies 3D designs value through targeted activity towards successful outcomes and discusses how those projects have run in university research setting.