Scientific and Technological Diffusion in Engineering Design: Technology Transfer and New Futures

Advances in Science and Technology have brought about greater potential i.e. enabling technologies. However creativity and innovation are subjective terms and it is difficult to pinpoint what is needed in order to ?be creative?, the designer is still responsible for the initial ideas, a responsibility which is unlikely to be alleviated. It seems that the design process is not progressing fast enough in order for the benefits of these enabling technologies to become evident in consumer products. In order for this to happen, design firms must ensure that their employees remain educated on new technological developments and software engineers need to communicate thoroughly with designers to ensure that computer based design progresses in the right way.