Although there has been a lot of attention in the media recently, Rob Bell, Team leader for Process Commercialisation at BDI member C-Tech Innovation, believes that we are not in danger of running out, if we act to utilise our resources more effectively. In truth these materials are not as rare as some believe and are fairly widely, if thinly, distributed across the globe.

In this BDI thought leadership piece Adele Graham-King, Smallfry’s Business Development Executive, talks about making medical devices more intuitive after being woken up in the night by her 3 year old daughter who has asthma and often needs her inhaler to relieve the symptoms.

This BDI thought leadership piece is taken from a recent interview given by Mike Elam, Technical and Development Director of BDI member Hyphen, to Edengene’s Innovation Quarterly. In it he discusses how his team approaches innovation through User Focused and Function Led design.

Bruce Renfrew, MD of BDI member Renfrew Group, sets out his argument against the proposed Design and Technology curriculum, believing that it will fail to fire the enthusiasm of young people to explore and develop new technology.

Shouting loudest isn’t necessarily the best way to win customers, according to BDI member Lisa Tse of creative consultancy Lisa Tse Ltd. She believes that a more refined approach is better in the long run.

Moving from a service-centric to a customer-centric business requires a wholly different ethos. In this BDI thought leadership piece Julie McManus, Knowledge Manager at Engine Service Design, defines best practice in achieving and sustaining the transition.

That is the question posed by BDI member TDG in this Thought Leadership piece. For a few short weeks, the London 2012 Games was a catalyst for initiatives that put many brands in the spotlight. But now that our memories are starting to fade, what can brands do to remain relevant and front of mind in 2013?

In this thought leadership piece BDI member Julie McManus, Knowledge Manager at Engine Service Design, argues that high street shopping is an experience that can be enhanced by services supported by technology.

Entrepreneurial organisations face huge challenges right now: rising costs of manufacturing in the Far East; unprecedented competition; increasing consumer expectations; and a shortage of credit to finance development and growth – to name but a few. In this BDI Opinion piece Alistair Williamson, BDI National Board Director and MD of Lucid Innovation, believes that the emergence of 3D printers offers a significant opportunity to change the way they do business.

The lure of manufacturing in China has grown to such an extent that it has become the accepted ‘go to place’ for manufacturers the world over. However what happens when it goes wrong? In this BDI Opinion Piece, Jeremy Offer at Industrial Design consultancy, Dekode, and Josh Wong, China Specialist and Partner at International Law Firm, DLA Piper, explain how you can overcome some of the pitfalls.

In this BDI opinion piece, Joss Newberry, Managing Director of Opius Design, articulates the difficulties industrial designers face in persuading organisations that design, and in particular strategic design, can be used effectively to bring about the changes necessary to drive innovation and describes the approach Opius has adopted to overcome them.