Cooperation with the Institute of Industrial Design

GESSEL is the exclusive legal partner of the “Design Your Profit” project implemented by the Institute of Industrial Design as part of the Innovative Economy operating programme.

The project has the goal of creating a professional business environment which enables entrepreneurs and designers to cooperate in the area of industrial design application and which fosters innovation in the business community, facilitates scientific contributions to economic development, and opens the way for innovative Polish products to enter the international market.

The substantive basis for the project will be comprised in what will be the first Polish handbook on the methodology of introducing a new design product to the market and managing the attendant processes, addressed to designers themselves as well as to product development departments. With the handbook as a point of reference, the project will offer real-life workshops as well as e-learning modules for businesses of all sizes and for designers.

During the workshops for companies, businesspeople will learn about specific systemic solutions for streamlining the process of introducing design products. Design studios and designers, meanwhile, will gain knowledge and skills in the area of standards applicable to their creative activities, for instance as regards intellectual property law. During joint workshops, the business and creative participants of the design and market introduction process will learn about management and about pooling their respective skills towards shared success. The workshops will be held at the Institute of Industrial Design as well as at the seats of selected regional partners.

The project’s internet portal – the largest internet facility dedicated to design in this part of Europe – will carry twenty e-learning courses. The contents and methodology of the courses will be fine-tuned as the project continues.

The “Design Your Profit” project will involve 550 companies of varying size and between 75 and 100 designers and studios. As regards the business community, the project is addressed to middle- and upper-level management overseeing the market introduction of new products in administrative, marketing, sales, technological, and production capacities. The designers will be freelancers, company employees, and owners/staff of independent design studios.

“Design Your Profit” will be executed within a cooperation network of Polish and international entities dedicated to promoting design. We expect this network to eventually encompass some 30 business organisations, academic centres, incubators, science and technology parks, technology transfer centres, and international R&D organisations.

GESSEL’s cooperation with the Institute of Industrial Design will focus on legal advice to industrial design businesses and authors. As part of the “Design Your Profit” project, we will compare notes, help structure the workshops and the project website, operate a virtual legal clinic with respect to the project, and maintain a question-and-answer section on the internet portal.

On the part of GESSEL, the project is coordinated by Dorota Bryndal, a partner in our firm whose specialisation encompasses intellectual property law. Our cooperation contract with the Institute of Industrial Design runs through the end of 2011.

For more details, please visit the Institute of Industrial Design website at www.iwp.com.pl.