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.

Designers from BDI member Canard Design and the NHS National Innovation Centre, with the involvement of senior clinicians, paramedics and ambulance service staff, have developed a Patient to Ambulance Transfer system (PaTs) and splint for a Fractured Neck of Femur (FNOF). The prototypes were unveiled at this year’s Healthcare Innovation Expo.

BDI member Materialise has announced the official launch of its new flexible 3D printing material, the TPU 92A-1

The new service, which will support design projects in North East industry, will be run by RTC North’s Design Network North (DNN) team and will provide financial support for companies wanting to work with local designers and grow their business by investing in new products and services.

BDI member Renfrew Group International , in partnership with the NHS, has developed an innovative wheelchair to improve the quality of life for disabled children and young adults. The sophisticated first generation Chair4Life (C4L) was revealed at the Healthcare Innovation Expo 2013.

Ben Reason and Lavrans Lovlie, founders of BDI member Live|work, together with long term colleague Andy Polaine, have published a book entitled Service Design: from insight to implementation, which is now available through Rosenfeld Media.

Steve May-Russell, MD of BDI member Smallfry, will be talking about ‘Medical device design –taking innovation to the user’ on Day 2 of the PDM Exhibition and Summit that will be held on 18th - 19th June 2013 at the Telford International Centre.

Put your design skills to the test by entering the Worshipful Company of Horners’ Bottlemakers and Plastics Design and Innovation awards.

Payments firm PayPal has launched a chip-and-pin machine, designed by BDI member 3form Design, which offers new sales methods to UK small businesses that have previously relied on cash or cheques.

The awards season has started very well for BDI member LA design, with three major international design awards announced over a three week period.

The third annual Product Design+ Innovation conference will take place on 15-16 May at a new venue, the Oval Cricket Ground in London. PD+I provides a unique opportunity for business professionals, industry experts and academics to discuss and debate the latest developments, challenges and opportunities available within industrial design.

BDI member DCA questions why the parking meter isn’t more intuitive and flexible to meet user’s needs.

An unidentified man has had 75% of his skull replaced with a 3-D printed implant made by Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) based in Connecticut. The surgery was the first time a patient has received an implant made specifically for him using 3-D printing technology.

With three design-specific categories all supported by British Design Innovation, the Plastics Industry Awards 2013 are now open for entries. The deadline is Friday 17 May. Entry is free and the winners will be announced at a black-tie gala awards ceremony on 27 September 2013 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

BSI has accredited BDI member Lucid’s processes to ISO 13485:2003, the international standard for the development of medical devices.

In an evaluation process lasting several days, BDI member Renfrew Group has succeeded in winning an award in the ‘red dot award: product design 2013’ competition for their highly innovative Wolf XT Handlamp.

Working with Lysanda, who provided the internal components and technology, BDI member 3fD designed and developed the TomTom ecoPLUS™, which has received Frost & Sullivan’s Customer Value Enhancement Award for Commercial Vehicle Telematics.

The International Design Alliance (IDA) has opened the call for expressions of interest for its 2017 Congress. Member organisations of Icsid, Icograda and IFI are eligible to submit a bid for consideration.

The Society’s final consultation re the award of Chartered Designer will give a further opportunity for the design sector to put forward their views for consideration when implementing the Register later this year. The event will be held on Tuesday 26 March 2013, from 3pm to 5pm in Central London.

BDI member Dalziel + Pow’s concept for Allen Solly in Bangalore picked up two awards in the Visual Merchandising and Retail Design Awards 2013: a gold for Best Shopfront and a merit for Best Fashion Apparel Speciality Store.

BDI member Quadro Design Associates has been acquired by Sagentia, a global innovation, technology and product development company. Quadro will now operate as an independent but integrated division of the Sagentia Group.

Two BDI members 3form Design and Brightworks have recently revamped their sites.

BDI members Engine Service Design and Livework, are featured in Forrester’s January report Executive Q&A: Customer Experience Co-Creation, in which authors Kerry Bodine and Amelia Sizemore define what Customer Experience Co-Creation is, why is it important for innovation and how to implement it.

UK-ASEAN Business Council, in partnership with The Law Society, invites you to explore growth opportunities for your business in South East Asia. The event will be held Thursday 21st March 2013, from 16.00 to 19.30, at The Midlands Hotel, Manchester.

Consumer products giant Unilever is to establish a new research and development site in Cheshire where it will have access to the UK’s most powerful supercomputer.

Fresh evidence that Apple has been working on a smart watch concept has emerged in a patent filing. The document describes a flexible touchscreen display that would communicate with a smartphone or other electronic device.

New BDI member Hymid Multi-Shot is co-hosting a free seminar with PDR (National Centre for Product Design & Research) and Intellectual Property advisers Marks & Clerk aimed at exploring the processes involved in bringing a product to market.

Wearable and washable computers which could be used for medical and military purposes are one step closer after a prototype garment which integrates electronic micro-devices into the core of yarns was produced by Nottingham Trent University.

Launched at the Consumer Electronics Show this year in Las Vegas, the eCalm, designed by BDI member 3form Design for Energenie, brings home automation and power monitoring at plug level to the masses.

During the winter months, the drop in temperature means that food runs out for birds that come to our gardens looking for some extra help to keep warm. BDI member Renfrew Group has designed a new bird feeder to help them out.

BDI member Therefore has developed the first of a new genre of all-in-one 3D surround sound speakers with Swiss based Sonic Emotion.

For the last three months BDI member live|work has been coaching teams of start-ups as they run through an intensive programme with Healthbox.

British product and furniture designer James Irvine, who founded his studio in Milan in 1988, has died at the age of 54.

World Industrial Design Day (WIDD) was established in 2007 to mark Icsid’s 50th anniversary and since then has been observed annually on 29 June in recognition of the industrial design profession.

BDI member MJV Technology & Innovation has launched a version of its book Design Thinking – Business Innovation for the Kindle. It contains example case studies of how MJV’s approach has benefited Brazilian insurance companies, airlines and many more, and is now available from Amazon.

DESMA is a training network in Design Management, funded by the European Commission. It combines four leading European Universities, four complementary product and service organizations and four leading European design consultancies, including BDI member Engine Service Design.

Michael Gove’s change of heart means that creative subjects will no longer be marginalised, as would have been the case under his proposed English Baccalaureate (Ebacc).

BDI member Dalziel + Pow have been working with Peter England (part of Madura Fashion and Lifestyle) to design a new retail identity for the brand.

As part of the NHS Leadership Programme BDI member Renfrew Group welcomed a cohort of clinical leaders to their Leicester headquarters for a day dedicated to ‘change in innovation’.

BDI member LA design’s work for Sonatest has received the highest category recognition in the 2013 International A’Awards competition.

The Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) has appointed Steve May-Russell, BDI National Board Director and MD of Smallfry, as ‘Designer in Residence and Innovation Mentor’ to help embed a genuine culture of innovation throughout its organisation.

Dyson has unveiled a device that combines a high-speed hand dryer with hot and cold water outlets. The firm's founder, Sir James Dyson, said that the device offered long-term savings over hot air dryers and towels.

André Cassagnes, inventor of the Etch A Sketch toy that generations of children drew on, shook and started over again on, has died in France.

Barker Brettell, who provide specialist professional legal services for all areas of Intellectual Property (IP), will be co-hosting a breakfast seminar entitled ‘Maximising your ROI from a good idea’ with BDI Member Smallfry. The event will take place at their Birmingham office on Wednesday 23 January 2013.

BDI member David Morgan Associates (DMA) has worked closely with the Shard’s lighting designer Joe Geitner from George Sexton Associates to develop an under cabinet lighting system specifically for apartments in the iconic building in London.

The real time tour, designed at Nottingham Trent University for the Galleries of Justice Museum, allows visitors with physical impairments to experience of the lower levels of the gaol, which they would otherwise miss out on due to design and age of the building.

Places for this ‘must attend’ event for the UK medical device and design manufacturing industry will go fast, so act now before it’s too late. It’s at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry from 10 to 11 April.

Following a series of successful workshops in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, BDI member MJV Technology and Innovation hosted its first Design Thinking Innovation Workshop in London. The event, hosted on January 23, celebrated the new office in London.

The registration deadline is 11 February and entries must be submitted before 25 February.

Omitting creative subjects from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), will have a direct impact on the future of the UK's technology industry. The people behind the #includedesign campaign, who have been lobbying the government to add a sixth pillar of Creative subjects, have launched a new campaign highlighting the ‘Hypocrisy of Tech City’.

The new institute, located at Glasgow School of Art's (GSA) Skypark campus, aims to encourage business growth through design. It will showcase how design skills and creative thinking can be embedded in the culture of companies to propel them forward and will help transfer art school expertise to firms in areas such as product and market development.

Virgin Media approached BDI member Engine Service Design to support them in continuing their tradition of putting the customer first, and specifically their Mobile customers. Their aim was to help increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and to reduce the traffic going to call centres for queries and confusion over unexpected billing.

Studying human psychology can help improve public service design. Behaviour is at the heart of most policy issues and can even affect the length of lives. More than half of potential years of healthy life are lost are due to behavioural and lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, and lack of exercise.

BDI member Live|work has been working with surgery staff to overcome the problem of families, particularly those with young children, over-using GP and A&E services. The objective is to understand how to shift these patients into a more affordable model that is still satisfactory to their health and support needs.

BDI member dekode is delighted and excited to announce that they are now part of the Great Fridays group of companies. This gives them a unique opportunity to create cohesive design solutions in the space where brands, consumer behaviour, and digital and physical interfaces meet.

BDI member Dalziel + Pow continue their work with Chilean department store Paris with the opening of the new Kids department.

The incredible H2Glow cap, designed by BDI member 3form Design, transforms sports bottles into flashing beacons of light. Powered by ultra bright LEDs, it cuts through darkness to illuminate all who carry it. Whether for fun of safety, the uses are many but the result is the same: you’ll get yourself seen.

BDI member Engine Service Design worked with Mercedes Benz to develop an end-to-end service proposition. One of the concepts, MyService, an online tool for booking tiered after-sales services, including MOT, diagnosis and fixed-price repairs to cover all budget requirements, picked up the 2012 BusinessCar Fleet Technology Award.

The well-known Design for Dwell competition has declared their 1st place winner as one of BDI member Factorydesign’s newest employees. Rachael joined the team after completing her degree in Furniture and Product design and is already proving her worth.

Kenneth Grange is the third industrial designer to receive a knighthood in the last five years for services to design. James Dyson received his in 2007, Jonathan Ive his in 2012. Last year's list also included a CBE for industrial designer Marc Newson.

BDI member DCA has helped Chubb to realise the new range by developing a series of intuitive features focused on the needs of the users.

As part of a raft of measures announced by business secretary Vince Cable to tackle copyright infringement, The City of London police is to establish an intellectual property crime unit. The police force, which already specialises in intellectual property crime, will set up a dedicated unit to target illegal downloaders next year.

The International Design Excellence Awards is the premier international competition recognizing and promoting design excellence across a number of industries and disciplines. BDI is a UK strategic partner.

BDI member PDT has married the world’s most widely used braille writer with first-of-its-kind multi-sensory technology to make learning and teaching braille easier.

BDI member DCA has been selected as Hitachi Rail Europe’s design partner responsible for the interior design of the Super Express trains that form a key part of the DfT’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

With summer temperatures reaching 43 degrees, the people of Rio de Janeiro are reluctant to ride their bikes to work even though they’ve over 270km of cycle paths. BDI member MJV Technology & Innovation, a Brazilian consulting company, has come up with a solution to overcome arriving at work all hot and sweaty.

BDI member Lisa Tse has been appointed to the prestigious award judging panel which includes journalist Hilary Alexander, former Marie Claire Editor Marie O' Riordan, designer Maria Grachvogel and retail expert Frances Card.

The ‘Breeze’ high chair is the latest in an expanding range of commercial baby changing products designed and developed by BDI member Creactive Design for Magrini over the last ten years.

BDI member C-Tech is leading a multinational consortium for the MAPSYN project, which aims to identify innovative ways of intensifying chemical reactions that can then be scaled up into cost and energy efficient manufacturing solutions for the personal care, pharmaceutical, household and agricultural industries.

A new survey by Design Industry Voices, which looks at the design industry workforce, paints a portrait of a sector in flux. 460 design professionals who work within design or digital agencies were asked to share their views anonymously about how it feels to work within their agencies right now.

BDI member Creactive Design has designed the latest demo units for the RealVNC roadshow, which showcases their latest in-vehicle mobile technology and has already travelled to Detroit, Tokyo and Munich.

ANA (Aeroportos Portugal)., the state-owned company that operates eight of the key Portuguese Airports, asked BDI member Engine Service design to create a passenger services strategy together with a suite of value-add services that would help develop a meaningful relationship with passengers and build the ANA brand.

It can take up to 20 years for a new procedure to go from first implementation to global practice. BDI member Live|work has helped the NHS develop a digital diagnostic tool that will speed up this process.

Plans to remove creative subjects from the UK curriculum are “short-sighted insanity” and “one of the biggest mistakes in British government” according to incoming D&AD president Neville Brody.

The FDU60, designed by BDI member C-Tech Innovation, eliminates the problems and health hazards associated with food waste storage – particularly in naval vessels where space is always at a premium.

BDI member Flintriver were selected by RCCC to redesign their logo in time for the European Curling Championships. The RCCC is the national governing body for curling in Scotland and is one of the largest governing bodies for sport in Scotland with in excess of 13,000 members in over 600 clubs.

The UK design industry has written an open letter to education minister Michael Gove asking him to reconsider his proposal to exclude design and the arts from the EBacc (English Baccalaureate) qualification that he wants in place of the current GCSE exams.

To celebrate its 100 edition New Design showcases 100 exceptional products that have been nominated by consultancies and design conscious agencies to reflect the breadth of achievement within the professional design community.

Co-Innovate is a two year European Regional Development Fund supported project to bring together the internationally renowned work of Brunel’s School of Engineering and Design with London-based small and medium sized enterprises to make a significant impact in innovation and new product development in the region.

The PT Mini is a powerful personal video communications device that is designed to work with any screen or monitor and is the first of its kind. StarLeaf needed a casework design to compliment the design language already defined by BDI member Creactive across their range of products.

BDI member Therefore has developed the GravityLight, an innovative lighting solution for primary use in developing world communities, which provides a realistic alternative to Kerosene lamps by harnessing the power of gravity.