LONDON.- The Design Museum and Deutsche Bank are celebrating 15 years of Design Ventura, the award-winning, free design and enterprise competition for school students aged 13-16. In partnership with Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility education programme, it has seen over 170,000 students participate spanning over 3,600 schools across the country since the initiative’s conception in 2010, nurturing creativity and innovation amongst young people, inspiring the next generation of young designers.

This year’s brief of ‘Change’ was set by Rodrigo García González and Karlijn Sibbel of innovative, sustainable single-use packaging solutions company Notpla, inviting students to consider the idea of ‘Change’ to design a product to improve everyday life for one of three specified target user groups. Students from Cambourne Village College were announced as the winners with their product ‘Loopy Loom’, a family-friendly weaving tool that transforms old clothing into new household items, combating fast fashion waste while creating quality time to make memories – and material – together, simultaneously repurposing waste.

With access to creative subjects and resources becoming more and more limited for UK’s schoolchildren over recent years, Design Ventura offers support for school Design & Technology and Art & Design programmes by providing free online learning resources, workshops, webinars and live events, supported by industry professionals; and in the case for some schools, provide the only access point to Design & Technology and creative learning. David, a teacher from Teesside High School says “The resources provided are excellent and the use of a live brief is important. It engages the students and really focuses their ideas.”

According to new research conducted for Arts and Minds by WeThink/Omnisis, participation in arts subjects at GCSE level has fallen by 42% over the last 15 years. Polling also found that 90% of students have a preference for taking at least one creative option at GCSE yet are unable to do so because funding constraints limit what state schools are capable of offering. A student from Glenthorne High School who participated in this year’s edition of Design Ventura said “The fact that we are able to take part in such a competition, where we get to experience how the design process works in the real world, fascinates me and makes me even more excited about pursuing design and technology in my future career.”

While participation and access to creative subjects is falling, creative industries continue to thrive in the UK, with the design economy growing at twice the UK average, contributing £97.4bn in GVA to the UK economy according to the Design Council’s 2022 report Design Economy: People, Places and Economic Value. Creative subjects are essential for the development of students’ personal and social development, as well as integral to the development of the UK economy, proving creativity is by no means a soft skill but an essential skill for our next generation. Pauline, a teacher from Cambourne Village College and this year’s winning school says Design Ventura “allows students to have a real experience of the design world. It motivates them to improve skills such as initiative, research, creativity, teamwork and critical thinking. All skills the future generation will need.” 92% of students who participated in the 2023-24 edition of Design Ventura reported that they were better at making good business decisions after completing the programme, while 91% of teachers reported that Design Ventura had a positive impact on students' wellbeing.

With each edition of Design Ventura, students are provided with a real-world brief, inviting students to spur their imagination and creativity to work together and propose a designed product, bringing the business of design to life for UK state secondary schools. After reviewing initial entries, this year ten shortlisted state school teams were invited to Deutsche Bank’s London head office to pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges. The winner was selected by judges Sebastian Conran (Trustee of the Design Museum), Roddy Boulton (Managing Director Wealth Management at Deutsche Bank), Karlijn Sibbel (Innovation Director at Notpla), Preena Patel (Buying and Merchandising Manager at the Design Museum) and Jodie Valery (part of the first ever winning Design Ventura team, now an illustrator and graphic designer for the likes of the BBC, Google, and Eurostar).

The winning team’s product will be developed with the support of a professional design agency before their product is manufactured and sold in the Design Museum Shop, with money raised from the sales going to a charity of the school’s choosing. Over the last 15 years, charities aided from the sales of previous winning products include Greenpeace, The Brain Tumour Charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Rainforest Alliance UK.

All of the shortlisted items including the winning product are available to view now in a free display on the museum’s mezzanine, and will be available to view from the 24th April until June 2025.

Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum says, “It’s such a strong endorsement of Design Ventura that so many students who take part in the programme feel inspired and invigorated, particularly those who say they now want to pursue design or a related creative subject as a career path. Design has the power to transform lives and creative careers are vital for the growth of the UK’s economy, so it’s heartening that students can learn firsthand the possibilities that design might offer. I also hope that the thousands of young people who have been involved in Design Ventura over the last 15 years have been able to harness and develop many of the ideas and skills they learned through participation in one of the most inspiring projects across the museum learning sector.”

Amy Harris, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility UK & Ireland at Deutsche Bank says, “Design Ventura enables bright young minds to explore the world through design. As well as creative thinking, young people also build essential workplace skills such as project management, budgeting, problem solving and leadership. Education sits at the heart of our commitment to society with a deep dedication to empowering change and enriching lives, and Design Ventura is a programme we are incredibly proud to have supported for 15 years.”