The changing role of the designer, 'breakthrough innovation' and the technological tools for change

Our ageing population reinforces a design methodology of inclusive, appropriate design (Nieusma 2004, p.14) by emphasising that previously marginal markets are now part of mainstream design and this is a challenge for our industries. From a mass production mentality to a batch production way of working, our industries need to invest in the technologies to allow them to create for the pattern of multiple 'niche' markets that is emerging as opposed to the mainstream 'one size fits all' it was built on. At the same time, the global environmental crisis demands that we apply a correspondingly inclusive attitude to maximising our resources. Because of the particular demands on it at this time, the timber industry will be considered here as an example. Changing the existing practice to respond to our changing wood resource needs a mind shift that challenges a currently wasteful, segregated timber supply chain that under-utilises its resource. I n particular, technology could be used to give a full and accurate assessment of what will become an increasingly complex resource, to maximise utilisation at each stage of processing, production, specification and installation. Fostering an integrated value chain that can provide more flexible, value-added solutions for the changing demographic while responding to the lower-grade material available is part of the role of the designer, a role that has become increasingly complex. There are, however, tools that designers can now use, and support in terms of methodology that can be effective as the basis for design strategy