The internationalisation of business and economic life represents challenges and opportunities to all actors. This is essentially the basis of the Norwegian government s engagement related to design in the field of trade- and industry. Let me present a few general observations, before returning to the governments views and efforts in the field of design and innovation. In today s global market context, products and services have to reflect higher degrees of knowledge and higher degrees of refinement in order to succeed. The adoption of design expertise has emerged as one way to raise these standards of production.
Professional designers have the insights of humanities and aesthetics.
These insights represent important input to traditional product development. Moreover, today s consumption is characterised by a stronger focus on individuality and the distinctiveness of the product. They have to tell a good story. Especially in those segments of the market where technical solutions becomes increasingly uniform, first class design can, and often do, play a crucial role in determining the consumers choice. By and large, the new standards of production and consumption, the need to involve knowledge and expertise in product-development add up to a potential for high quality design to make a difference.