**3.3 Trends in design-research centres**

The trend in terms of research and design centres is international cooperation and collaboration. These can be achieved by organizing virtual research and design centres.

The development of communications and computer technologies (ICT) offers the possibility of using the Internet in research design activities (E-design E-research), within virtual centres (Kincheloe, 2006).

Virtual research combines a variety of activities, as follows:


The major objective of the future research/design centres has to be the improvement in the performance of the centre for international exchange of knowledge.

Future research-design centres can be viewed as appropriate mechanisms to establish links with world research, as well as to prevent the need for researchers to work "behind the walls". This could be a solution to stop the migration of researchers in countries who have a much higher technological development of information and communication.

A proposal for organizing a research-design activity within the virtual research-design centres was put forward in the domain of mechanical engineering and, more specifically, in the field of cutting tools, by using the E-creative design concept.
