Digitalisation of technological design processes boosts Slovakia’s competitiveness

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The project has helped to support digitalisation of technological processes in design and its application in the three areas covered, namely industrial, textile and fashion design, graphic design and visual communication.Katarína Šuloková, Research Agency of the Slovak Ministry of Education, Science, Research and SportThe project facilitated the digitalisation of technological design processes in three specific areas: industrial, textile and fashion design; graphic design; and visual communication. It also supported the practical application of digitalised processes in other relevant fields.The project carried out applied research and later transferred the technology to industrial applications. From the outset, the project emphasised the need to focus on the practical use, in social and economic terms, of the new knowledge arising from the research. The technology transfer should thus lead to the modernisation of the necessary technical infrastructure for digitalisation of design processes in the three areas covered by the project.Male and female researchers of various agesA large number of people took part in the research and development processes. A total of 161 were PhD students at the various partner institutions involved in the project: 82 were women and 79 were men.In addition, 28 other researchers from partner institutions made use of the research opportunities provided by the project. Of these, 10 were over the age of 35, of which 7 were women and 3 were men; 18 were under 35, of which 8 were women and 10 were men.A range of publications were also produced. In all, three papers were published in recognised scientific journals, while another five publications were released through other channels. Furthermore, an exhibition was organised to showcase the project’s work. A total of EUR 638 000 was spent on information and communication technologies for research and development.Design improvements in a wide range of fieldsSuccessful implementation of the project aimed to increase the potential for research and development in numerous fields. These include car design and other types of vehicles, including those using alternate means of propulsion; industrial products and consumer goods, textile and fashion, graphics and visual communication.Specific results could include improvements to functional mock-ups of new city cars running on electric motors and conceptual studies for design of mid-range cars. Other new solutions could emerge in such areas as font design and creation, the design of multimedia user interfaces and new technological procedures for book design.Total investment and EU fundingTotal investment for the project “The digitalisation of technological processes in design” is EUR 974 535, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 925 808 through the “Research & Development” Operational Programme for the 2007-2013 programming period.