The Competitiveness and Communications Minister was speaking at a seminar organised by the Malta Branch of the UK Institute of Engineering Designers entitled Exploiting Design for Industrial Competitiveness held at Malta Enterprise.

Mr Galea said: “There is no doubt that Maltese industrial enterprises, ranging from small and medium enterprises to multinationals, are under continuous pressure to sustain and improve their competitiveness.”

He continued: “Now, more than ever before, the consumer rules and the cut-throat competition in today’s economy means that different industrial sectors are expected to collectively improve a number of performance criteria such as achieving faster delivery, higher-quality, eco-friendly and yet cheaper products.”

Minister Galea said competitiveness could be seen from various perspectives. An analysis of this goal shows that, in reality, all these performance measures are greatly influenced by how products are designed.

He said that although some innovative firms were already exploiting design to enhance operations and become more competitive, the benefits of innovative engineering designs are not yet fully appreciated by local industry. Speaking about the government’s visions within this perspective, Mr Galea said his ministry was keen to embark on specific measures to help improve the Maltese innovation scoreboard and the local manufacturing industry’s competitiveness.

“One such measure is indeed through the use of design. Being aware of how design is explicitly taken up by other governments abroad, I believe that we cannot afford not to promote the exploitation of design,” he said. Government intends to encourage the use of design as one means by which industrial competitiveness can be improved. “And I believe that associations such as the Institute for Engineering Designers (Malta) promoting design in Malta should be supported in activities that contribute towards improving Malta’s industrial competitiveness,” he concluded.