This was the third and final roundtable in the All-Party Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group's (APDIG) three-part series in collaboration with the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD), titled: Realising Art and Design Research in Policy Making Decisions, and was chaired by APDIG Chair Barry Sheerman MP. 

We were also joined by:

• Sandra Booth, Director of Policy and External Relations, CHEAD.
• Professor Naren Barfield, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost at the Royal College of Art.

The final session was an interactive policy design workshop that built upon the discussions of the first and second roundtables and brought together experts to discuss how current research can be more concretely embedded in policymaking decisions, and better understand the key policy changes that the creative industries would like to see both within the sector and beyond for Art and Design research can be best realised in policymaking decisions.

The UK is currently faced with increasing challenges across health, climate, technology and more. The creative, design and innovation industries can add a lot of value to the solutions to these challenges but are not yet fully appreciated in policy. We have already been seeing emerging research across all these areas, especially at Design for Planet by the Design Council, just a month ago. What is now critical is for policymakers to acknowledge and utilise this research.

🗣️ Pleased to hear Sandra Booth @sandrabpvc, Director of Policy & External Relations @CHEAD_UK speak on the value of #Design & #CreativeIndustries, noting the role they can play in addressing #ClimateChange, #Health & social issues, and introducing emerging technologies. #CHEADRA pic.twitter.com/FEsCI2TLeO

— ITI Policy Connect (@IndTechInnov_PC) January 18, 2022

We are now heading into the interactive part of this session. Participants are put in various breakout rooms for discussion. Question 1: How can #Art & #Design be better connected to Govt strategy, policy frameworks and funding mechanisms at a cross departmental level? #CHEADRA pic.twitter.com/3Wp9cpJ7gk

— ITI Policy Connect (@IndTechInnov_PC) January 18, 2022

Questions for Discussion

In breakout rooms, attendees were asked to consider the following questions:

1. How can Art and Design be better connected to Government strategy, policy frameworks and funding mechanisms at a cross departmental level?
2. How can Art and Design be fully utilised to reimagine community led place-based decision making?
3. How can Art and Design redefine value creation and drive future thinking and innovation strategy?

Group 2 are placing their ideas and answers to the first question on the graph where the Y-axis represents 'Importance' and the X-axis represents 'Feasibility'. "Genuine & sustainable engagements with stakeholders" is considered to be of high importance. #CHEADRA pic.twitter.com/zyGeuswbDl

— ITI Policy Connect (@IndTechInnov_PC) January 18, 2022

We are back in the main room to go through all the exciting ideas and answers the groups have come up with. Starting off with the importance of community involvement and the role of universities. #CHEADRA pic.twitter.com/FXyLvonvEL

— ITI Policy Connect (@IndTechInnov_PC) January 18, 2022

Participants also noted that it is important to move the concept of design away from being viewed as an initial stage of an engineering process "so that people don't immediately think #Design & #Engineering, so that they see that design is a discipline in and of itself. #CHEADRA pic.twitter.com/M8hoGWnDn4

— ITI Policy Connect (@IndTechInnov_PC) January 18, 2022

The outputs from this session will be recommendations and suggestions for delivery that government and parliament can endorse, creating a roadmap endorsed by a wide representation of the sector. Both CHEAD and APDIG will continue to build on this work in other aspects of their respective programmes.

Previous roundtables in our series with CHEAD:

Summary of Roundtable 1

Summary of Roundtable 2

Make sure to follow APDIG on Twitter @IndTechInnov_PC to stay up-to-date with our year ahead.