Be a Part of the Western Cape's Design Revolution | Western Cape Government

Be a Part of the Western Cape's Design Revolution

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In 2012, the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) collaborated with the Cape Craft & Design Institute (CCDI), to develop a Design Strategy for the Western Cape region.
 
The strategy recognises the fact that good designs use both creative and iterative processes in the development of innovative products, services environments and communication.
 
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The Western Cape’s newly launched Design Park speaks directly to this core aim and is ready to shape the ideas of the province’s budding inventors, with a R6.5 million fund to finance the best products.
 
Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, on 14 August 2014 launched the Design Park, which is based at the new headquarters of the CCDI.
 
Minister Winde also opened the call for applications for a new Design Innovation Seed Fund, which will enable entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas and take them to the marketplace. This partnership between the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism and the Technology Innovation Agency will be implemented by the CCDI. “We want South Africa’s next big innovator to come from the Design Park”, Minister Winde said. The park and fund offer support to innovators for high-risk early stage innovation. 
 
In the park – which includes the new office space at 37 Barrack Street, as well as a secondary space at 75 Harrington Street – designers will have access to space, equipment and product, market and business support programmes  to bring their ideas to life. Because these are shared services, they are able to keep costs low. For a complete list of the tools and processes available in the space, as well as machines sizes, file formats and limitations, please see Product Support Space: Equipment, Tools and Processes.
 
The CCDI's collaborative creative hub at 75 Harrington Street is the space where 20-30 businesses can hire space ranging from lock-up-and-go offices of approximately 10 sqm, to a few prime office "suites" of 80 sqm, and numerous hot-desk spaces. Rental includes services such as central reception and switchboard, WiFi, print and photocopying, access to meeting rooms and a boardroom, as well as a communal kitchen on each floor.
 
The design industry in the Western Cape is showing encouraging signs of growth. “We’ve seen the benefits for this model through the Bandwidth Barn, which has boosted the success of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) entrepreneurs. The Western Cape’s design sector contributes R14 billion to the national GDP and projections show the Design Park could increase that to R20 billion”, said Minister Winde.
 
The Design Park links creative entrepreneurs and designers to the industry, allowing them to test their products. It also provides exhibition space for their products and will help grow a design ecosystem in the Western Cape. The ideal tenant mix at the collaborative creative hub will include individual designers and makers accross the full spectrum of design disciplines (graphic design, web design, social media, industrial design etc.) and support services.
 
“The goals of the Design Park include increasing the number of innovations which are commercialised and increase exports of design-related products. We want to improve the success rate of businesses in the sector by at least 30%. Ultimately this could see the creation of 14 000 jobs”, said Minister Winde.
 
The Design Innovation Seed Fund is a pilot fund set up to test ways to support early-stage innovation development with financial support. The funding is available to:
  • Western Cape based early-stage small and medium enterprises (SME’s) /entrepreneurs /researchers.
  • Students at Western Cape tertiary institutions as long as the institution does not already have an Intellectual Property claim to the product /service (Please consult institution’s Intellectual Property Policy).
  • Pre-revenue businesses in incubation or entering incubation.
  • Existing SMEs with new products /innovation that is still pre-revenue.
To complete an application please visit: http://ccdi.org.za/disf-application
 
For queries and more information please contact:
 
Innovation Seed Fund
Adrian Solomons
Cell: 074 813 7871 (during office hours) 

Collaborative Creative Hub
Steven Harris
Cell: 082 445 3246 (during office hours)
 
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The content on this page was last updated on 30 July 2015