Minister Murray speech at World Design Congress
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-11)

In a keynote speech to the World Design Congress, Minister Murray sets out the government's ambitions for the design sector.

Only just three days ago, I was getting options for my first speech, and to me, this was the only option, the World Design Congress. In fact, to be honest, it was the only option.

It’s a great privilege to welcome so many guests from around the world, 100 countries, and over 1,000 people following online, as the UK hosts the World Design Congress for the first time since the days when the mini skirt was a revolution and psychedelia shaped cultural imagination.

The UK does this well. We host major events from sporting competitions to big business events, and it’s because our cultural and creative sector are globally iconic. It was a delight to hear about the stimulating and thought provoking sessions that have taken place in the last few days. It’s been particularly inspiring to see the breadth of contributions taking part, from We Are The Voice children’s choir yesterday morning to Norman Foster’s reflections on his long and distinguished career, as I would say, the world’s architect. The UK’s creative output and our creative history are unmatched, and I’m proud to be part of a government that recognises the value of the creative industries in changing lives and providing opportunities.

Now, we recently published our creative industries sector plan in June, and my friend Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State, and I want to supercharge the growth of a creative economy that’s full of world class talent. The plan provides £380 million in injections for innovation, access to finance, skills and regional growth, and we’re working with industry to produce the conditions for this sector to thrive. Design is a crucial part of that plan, but we want to go further, and with your help, faster. We want the best ideas on how we can do this, and I look forward to meeting you all over the coming months, to hear your ideas, maybe even to steal your ideas in government to make this happen.

British design is the best in the world and a global cultural force. Its influence is recognisable worldwide, from Zaha Hadid’s iconic Olympic Aquatic Center to, of course, Vivienne Westwood’s visionary avant garde fashion. And as a Scot, in my previous role as Scottish Secretary, I had the pleasure of attending Tartan Week in New York. And of course, wherever you go in the world as a Scot and you wear the kilt, a global design icon of course, in itself, people ask you what the tartan is. And of course, my tartan is a Murray of Atholl.

I did inquire as to a yellow tartan jacket that a rather flamboyant chap on the tartan parade on Sixth Avenue was wearing, expecting him to say it was a MacDonald, a McKenzie, or any other famous yellow Scottish tartan, and he simply turned out and replied my tartan is Vivienne Westwood.

On a personal note, I am proud of Dundee’s status of the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design, an international acknowledgement of its rich design heritage in everything from textiles to video games. This global recognition stems from Britain’s design nature as innovative, diverse, forward thinking, and as a driver of economic growth now, and a vital cog across a range of industries of the future. All of this, of course, celebrated at the award-winning V&A in Dundee. And if you have the chance to visit it, please do.

But this is not just about design through a creative lens, nor indeed about the UK going it alone. Indeed, I’m here as a government minister sitting across two departments, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. And this is important because design speaks to both of those camps. Design is highly creative, but it’s also critical to innovation, molding research, and putting ideas into action, for the redesigning not only of products, but resetting entire economies, entire business models and systems, working towards change, the radical collaboration between designers, business leaders and, of course, policy makers. And this will be vital as we address one of, if not the, pressing issue of our time, the climate crisis. Design can turn climate ambition into tangible change, leading the way to better homes, cleaner transport, circular goods, greener cities, and, of course, more sustainable lives. But it will need all of us to work together to realise those opportunities. It will require the determination of designers, businesses and political leaders from around the world, because it won’t be easy, and we’ll need to use every lever that we’ve got at our disposal. Innovation, investment and the most critical part, people, people that are equipped, people that are empowered and people that are ready. And skills are the bridge between aspiration and action and we’ll only succeed in that shared vision and those shared endeavors if we invest in the skills and the designers needed to empower that green transition. Political leaders need to create conditions for designers to thrive. Businesses need to empower their upskilled employees and educators, and this is the important one for me, they need to inspire the design leaders of the future. And that’s why this government is committed to building a resilient, skilled and diverse workforce that’s fit for the future.

The UK Design Museum, of course, is stepping up, reimagining how we design, why we design, and what good design means in the climate emergency. Powered by the Design Council’s inspiring Skills for Planet blueprint, they are part of a dynamic shift in how designers are propelling us through the green transition. The government I’m part of will continue working in partnership with industry, educators and institutions like the World Design Organisation and Design Council, building a global network of interconnected efforts, crossing borders, crossing sectors and disciplines to tackle the planet’s shared challenges, ensuring the next generation of designers are not just creators, but catalysts of actions on climate change.

As the minister for the creative industries, I’m proud this government is making a substantial investment in those skills. With over £1 billion of additional funding, I’m proud that we’ve been able to support this once in a generation moment to demonstrate and drive forward the UK’s global leadership in design as part of the wider Creative Industries Sector Plan. And I’m very proud to say that UK government stands firmly behind the Design Council’s Skills for Planet mission, including through contribution for this congress itself.

Skills and access to skills, of course, for those that are talented but not given the opportunities, are a key driver of what I came to work in politics to do, and this department allows me to realise some of those ambitions. There are talents out there in every community, and we have to harness those talents into industry and into design. But building skills is only half the story. The creativity that these skills engender also deserves the best protection.

The UK has one of the world’s most respected and toughest intellectual property systems, but right now, it asks too much of you. You should be spending your time being creative, doing what you do best, not being bogged down, navigating a system that can feel like it needs its own instruction manual.

That’s why we’ve just launched the most comprehensive review of design protection in decades, and we need your voice and experience to shape it. Whether you’re a designer frustrated by complex processes, a startup needing clear guidance, or a creative business wanting protection you can understand and afford, your experience matters. We want to make design protection work as intuitively as good design itself, because when we unlock the potential of our intellectual property system, we strengthen Britain’s position as a global creative superpower. So to all of you, a challenge and a plea.

Let us all be ambitious together. Let us be urgent together. Let us come together in this pivotal moment to empower designers of now and the designers of the future, and let us make design this shining example of innovation and leadership to create a thriving and healthy planet.

Thank you very much.