London Design Festival - Safeguarding Sustainable Innovation: The importance of IP in ethical design

The move to a circular economy will be underpinned by sustainable innovation. The message at this year’s World Design Congress is to “design for planet” – a call to all designers to place ecological factors at the heart of their work.

Designers are increasingly addressing environmental and social issues through their work, with 64% of designers reporting an increase in client demand for environmentally focussed design over the past three years, as stated in the Environmental and Social Value of Design 2025 report by the Design Economy; this demand is expected to continue unabated.

However, in a world of global commerce, environmental ethics are often superseded by economic pressures - when far-flung manufacturing hubs can replicate new products at a fraction of the cost, how can ethical designers and innovators compete?  What role can intellectual property play in maintaining and protecting the environmental advantages that sustainable design can provide?

In this talk our intellectual property experts will explore the importance of protecting your sustainable innovation and the steps that designers can take to the protect not just the fruits of their labours but their environmental ethics too.

Agenda

12:00 Arrival and lunch

12:30 - 1:30 Seminar talk 

1:30 - 2:00 Networking