Ministers are to scrap the draft design and technology syllabus just two months after it was published amid claims that the document prioritised ‘life skills’ over rigorous disciplines such as engineering.

The Government is reviewing its categorisation of the creative industries and is planning to drop Craft as a classification and merge Design and Designer Fashion into one group. These new classifications would form the basis of Government research into the value of the creative industries.

The 3M™ Versaflo™ S-655 Premium Hood designed in conjunction with BDI member DCA has been shortlisted for the 2013 Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF) awards.

The Mimics Innovation Suite is an industry standard for processing and editing anatomical data from CT and MRI scans. As incorporating anatomical data is an important component in evidence-based R&D, BDI member Materialise offers funding of 16,000 euros per year to the most innovative uses of the software.

You can find out by going to the Icsid World Industrial Design Day website.

BDI member Smallfry is co-hosting another free breakfast seminar on ‘Maximising your ROI from a good idea’. Along with Barker Brettell and Wright Hassall, they will look at how good design can transform an innovative idea into a market leading product.

A bill to extend copyright protection on industrial design from 25 years to the length of the author's life plus 70 years has recently become law in the UK.

BDI member Engine has been working with E.ON Group for the last four years to support their rollout of a service excellence programme, which focuses on the implementation of a Net Promoter Score (NPS) programme across different geographical locations.

As well as the recognition for the My Service developed by Engine Service Design and Mercedes-Benz, the My Dash tool that enables the online service has also won an award.

In an article in the New Design Yearbook 2013 Steve May-Russell, Managing Director of BDI member Smallfry, describes why pausing to consider Smallfry’s own future has led to the most exciting period the company has ever known.

BDI has become a UKTI Challenge Partner together with 98 other organisations. We are the only trade body representing industrial designers in the UK and, by joining this project, we have committed to support members who wish to increase their business internationally.

BDI member Quadro Design, now a division of Sagentia, co-presented to senior medical device experts on ‘consumer-driven design concepts and developments’ at the BIOMEDevice conference in Boston.

During a recent visit to the University of Ulster he told students that the UK produces world-leading, creative design thinkers, but lacks the innovative manufacturing processes to translate design into tangible and commercial outputs.

BDI member Product Development Technologies (PDT) has won five 2013 ADEX Platinum Awards for outstanding form, function and fitness for a particular purpose.

BDI member live|work has been working with Gjensidige, Norway’s largest insurance company, for five years. The FT article on customer experience governance uses their case to demonstrate how quality of customer experience can be guided in service delivery.

Sabre is a stylish high-tech economy class seat with a semi-fixed back shell. Launched by the Italian aircraft seat manufacturer Optimares and designed by BDI member Factorydesign, it combines the best of a traditional reclining system with the space advantage of a partial fixed back-shell creating a novel seat.

BDI member Rodd is pleased to announce that ode, a fragrance device that promotes appetite amongst people living with Dementia, is now a fully-fledged spin-out between themselves and partner Lizzie Ostrom of The Olfactory Experience.

BDI members Engine Service Design and Thinkable Studio have refreshed their websites.

Inspired by a parent’s note on a nursery pinboard describing their child’s missing generic-looking scooter, BDI member LiteBulb Group has created a unique range of accessories to personalise and identify children’s scooters.

The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards recognise the return on investment that a coherent, well-thought-out and professionally executed design strategy can achieve. It is the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria.