Design and the creative industries are key drivers of growth, innovation and exports. We are on the brink of an artificial intelligence revolution, where skills in immersion and AR/VR will be at a premium in industry’s quest to develop new products and services. But the education system is ill-equipped to provide the talent and skills at the rate they will be needed. In fact, entry to GCSE Design and Technology fell by 18,800 last year, and by 47,000 for creative GCSEs overall.

How can we improve our educational policies to meet the needs of tomorrow’s economy, and how can we create the pathways so that all young people of talent can succeed?

The topic will be debated with the audience by a panel comprising Manchester City Council’s Chief Executive Joanne Roney OBE, the Design Council’s Director of Growth & Innovation Ellie Runcie, Lou Cordwell OBE, CEO/Founder of magneticNorth, APDIG Manager Jack Tindale and Lisa O’Loughlin, the Principal of The Manchester College.

The debate will be introduced by the Dean of Manchester School of Art, Penny Macbeth, and chaired by Design Manchester’s Kasper de Graaf.

Image: ‘All Schools Should Be Art Schools’ – this large-scale installation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park was created by Bob and Roberta Smith in April 2017, as part of YSP’s 40th anniversary celebrations. It expresses Smith’s ongoing concern with the diminishing role of the arts in schools, since the Michael Gove-initiated removal of Art from the GCSE core curriculum in England.

Design Manchester in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group

Supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Creative Economy Programme