No Description The 3rd annual South West Design Forum summit held on 18th March at the St. Mellion International Resort has been hailed as a huge success.

No Description Introduced by Emma Collins, Vice Chair of the forum, the sessions began with a report from Chairman Roger Proctor. After outlining the recently published Sector Development plan Roger announced some of the ambitious projects that the forum would take forward over the next twelve months.

No Description There was a sneak preview of the latest Design Council research from Ursula Davies. For full details of the research go to: www.designcouncil.org

The Summit was also a chance for the Design Networks from across the South West to report back on their activities over the last 12 months and outline their plans for the future. The event also saw the launch of a new network based in Wiltshire.

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The keynote speakers this year were John McFaul from McFaul studio and Sam Hecht from Industrial Facility. Their inspirational lectures were part of the Inspirational Speakers initiative being rolled out across the region thanks to support from Arts Council England.

At lunchtime delegates were treated to a live web streamed event on Planning for Growth which was recorded by Silverstream TV at the University of Plymouth in February and which featured Designers and professional advisors from across the region. To see the web stream click here.

There was an update on the Return on Design Investment project from Tim Burley the project leader and on the Design Train programme which will be launching a new programme of training courses for designers in Taunton, Bristol and Plymouth in April. The courses on offer are Leadership & Management, Project Management, Service Design and Sales. Click here for more information

The event culminated with the launch of Design Buddy, a ground breaking initiative supported by Universities South West and the National Council of Graduate Entrepreneurship, and being run in collaboration with the University of Plymouth, Bath Spa and Arts University College Bournemouth. Sign up to be a Design Buddy here