**3. Importance of entrepreneurship for the success of the industrial designer**

The development of innovative products and improving existing products is a complex business effort, involving the integration of various skills, from design to manufacture through design and marketing. The practice of entrepreneurship appears to be increasing worldwide as a career option, against the backdrop of socio-economic difficulties undermining many economies and countries and reducing opportunities for those wishing to enter the labour market. However, the practice of entrepreneurship coexists with the failure of many organi‐ zations, due to the low levels of education of entrepreneurs and heir reduced motivation to use management tools that would enable them to upgrade their activities.

Design has proved an important tool in creating value through innovation. The growing appreciation of the profession in the world has highlighted the urgent need of education in design to be targeted to deal with the globalized and extremely competitive economy and job market. In this sense, design education must be addressed as to support and nurture young designers, facilitating their entry in the job market, along with the dynamism and expansion of design as a factor in creating value for companies and nations.

As an example of the pathways of professional affirmation of designers, entrepreneurship, at various stages of the careers of designers, can be studied from both a theoretical standpoint, and considering a national reality. In this context, and by way of example, this section of the paper presents a technological project for sustainable design and outlines the contours of a proposal for social entrepreneurship based on that project, aiming to contribute to community development.

#### **3.1. Sustainable design project with a view to entrepreneurship in collabouration with the local community (Niassa – Mozambique) to contribute to local development**

This section presents a design project with a view to sustainable entrepreneurship, entitled "Development of sustainable integrated solutions for the northern provinces of Mozambique - Ecotourism." The project consisted of the development (analysis and design) of a hot air balloon and an infra- structure for the production of biogas with concerns for environmental sustainability, to support ecotourism in a group of communities. For this project, several objectives were thus outlined, with key points that should be achieved, such as the use of ecological materials, achieving an aesthetically acceptable, innovative, affordable, competitive and uniform design.

Ecotourism is a segment of tourism that explores the environmental, natural and cultural heritage, encourages conservation and seeks the formation of environmental awareness through the interpretation of the environment and promoting the welfare of populations. In this project, it was chosen to develop a hot air balloon. The idea was to create the balloon to support human recreational activity, through geographical exploration from an aerial per‐ spective in a non-polluting way, and thus contribute to rural poverty alleviation and sustain‐ able development in rural communities of the northern provinces of Mozambique, and Niassa in particular. The aim was to create a sightseeing tour promoting touristic housing where Eco tourists would be able to stay with the native population, and partake in the activities of these traditional communities. Through this practice, the income would go directly to families and community funded projects in health, education, road construction, among other domains.

Portugal, the demand does not seem to be expressive. Regarding remuneration, almost all companies disclosed the salary offered, with the monthly value changing from country to country and mostly between 1000 and 3000 USD. The most common areas of action ranged from electronics to footwear, including household appliances, among others. In terms of experience, companies often seek designers with some experience and rarely ask for those

**3. Importance of entrepreneurship for the success of the industrial designer**

The development of innovative products and improving existing products is a complex business effort, involving the integration of various skills, from design to manufacture through design and marketing. The practice of entrepreneurship appears to be increasing worldwide as a career option, against the backdrop of socio-economic difficulties undermining many economies and countries and reducing opportunities for those wishing to enter the labour market. However, the practice of entrepreneurship coexists with the failure of many organi‐ zations, due to the low levels of education of entrepreneurs and heir reduced motivation to

Design has proved an important tool in creating value through innovation. The growing appreciation of the profession in the world has highlighted the urgent need of education in design to be targeted to deal with the globalized and extremely competitive economy and job market. In this sense, design education must be addressed as to support and nurture young designers, facilitating their entry in the job market, along with the dynamism and expansion

As an example of the pathways of professional affirmation of designers, entrepreneurship, at various stages of the careers of designers, can be studied from both a theoretical standpoint, and considering a national reality. In this context, and by way of example, this section of the paper presents a technological project for sustainable design and outlines the contours of a proposal for social entrepreneurship based on that project, aiming to contribute to community

**3.1. Sustainable design project with a view to entrepreneurship in collabouration with the**

This section presents a design project with a view to sustainable entrepreneurship, entitled "Development of sustainable integrated solutions for the northern provinces of Mozambique - Ecotourism." The project consisted of the development (analysis and design) of a hot air balloon and an infra- structure for the production of biogas with concerns for environmental sustainability, to support ecotourism in a group of communities. For this project, several objectives were thus outlined, with key points that should be achieved, such as the use of ecological materials, achieving an aesthetically acceptable, innovative, affordable, competitive

**local community (Niassa – Mozambique) to contribute to local development**

use management tools that would enable them to upgrade their activities.

of design as a factor in creating value for companies and nations.

seeking their first job.

214 Advances in Industrial Design Engineering

development.

and uniform design.

Mozambique is a country in the east coast of southern Africa, bordered to the north by Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, to the east by the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean, and to the south and to the southwest by South Africa and to the west by Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The province of Niassa was selected for the realization of the ecotourism route conceived (approximately 120 km) - Niassa - Lichinga - Dias - Maniamba - Metangula.

The chosen route begins in Lichinga, the capital of Niassa. The first stop would be Dias, about 46 km away. The next stop would be Maniamba, about 43 km from Dias. Departing from Maniamba, the next destination would be Metangula, about 30 km away. Given that the maximum speed for safe travel by balloon is up to 20 km/h (always depending on the weather and wind) and that the autonomy of the balloon is usually 3 hours of flight, it is expected that the route chosen would enable a comfortable and safe journey through the air.

As an air vessel without mechanical handling and dependent on wind currents, weather monitoring becomes essential for the safe displacement of the hot air balloon. The ideal conditions for balloon flights are early in the day, with great visibility and light winds, with speeds up to 10 knots (18.5 km / h or 5.2 m / s). The wind regime in Mozambique is essentially influenced by the circulation of the atmosphere in southern Africa and the main currents blow from southeast. Mean annual temperatures vary between 23° C and 26° C. In areas of high altitude, these are less than 23° C. The warmest and most moist months are October to February.

An anaerobic digester is a device used to produce biogas, a mixture of gases, mainly methane, produced by bacteria that digest organic matter under anaerobic conditions (in the absence of oxygen). A bio-digester is a chemical reactor in which chemical reactions of biological origin take place. The biogas can be used as fuel for the hot air balloon instead of natural gas or gas obtained from oil, both extracted from mineral reserves.

This project was presented on July 8th, 2010 in Maputo, Mozambique, at the international symposium "Towards a research agenda for development ergonomics in Mozambique". Other projects were developed onwards as a consequence of the afore-mentioned symposium and were reported by Couvinhas et al. (2012) and by Coelho et al. (2012).

The results to be achieved with this Ecotourism project based on a hot air balloon that runs on biogas created from bio-digesters placed locally (fueled by organic waste from livestock) include enabling a scientific, historical and cultural basis for the stay of tourists in rural communities, while practicing a kind of eco-tourism, but one that is also exciting and adven‐ turous. Bio-digesters and tourist facilities are to be placed on ground stations, from village to village, to foster increased income for communities and hence an economic boost. Image renders of the project developed are shown in Figures 1 to 3.

**Figure 2.** Renders – Basket and Bio-digester

Early Stages of Industrial Design Careers http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52857 217

**Figure 1.** Render of Hot Air Balloon Design

**Figure 2.** Renders – Basket and Bio-digester

include enabling a scientific, historical and cultural basis for the stay of tourists in rural communities, while practicing a kind of eco-tourism, but one that is also exciting and adven‐ turous. Bio-digesters and tourist facilities are to be placed on ground stations, from village to village, to foster increased income for communities and hence an economic boost. Image

renders of the project developed are shown in Figures 1 to 3.

216 Advances in Industrial Design Engineering

**Figure 1.** Render of Hot Air Balloon Design

considered by employers as one of the biggest problems that designers face when they seek to

Early Stages of Industrial Design Careers http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52857 219

In relation to the entrepreneurial spirit of the surveyed designers, the study demonstrated that most of the designers who had had an innovative idea or business during academic training, and when trying to realize this idea had been unable to get financial support for their devel‐ opment, at present, these professionals, come to think about having their own business and thus creating their own jobs. On the analysis of employment held, designer respondents hold a positive spirit, since the majority considered that they had stable employment prospects. As for their salary, most designers think that the salary they receive is not appropriate to the

In terms of the assessment of training for designers, employers positively assess, in general, the training in relation to software taught, though most of them think that more recent software should also be included. Regarding the development of entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of current and emerging technologies, these are aspects that employers consider that need to

Considering the answers given by the designers, these suggest that they acknowledge the lack of close contact with business reality during their higher education. The reason for this lack of contact is related to teaching that focuses on many cases in a set of theoretical knowledge that often are not demonstrated or tested by future designers and does not focus enough on practice

In terms of skills needed to succeed in today's job market and what can be expected for the near future, it is important to highlight some skills related to team performance, namely, the ability to work as a team. Interestingly, throughout the duration of academic training, the ability to work in a team is valued more by teachers than by student-designers, but this

Currently, what is sought in the performance of designers is the mastery of technical skills combined with knowledge about new technologies, but also a focus on creativity and inno‐ vation capacity paired with mastery of a wide range of interpersonal skills to enabling

For each type of trajectory in industrial design, there exists one or more important and beneficial skill and competency for every type of career path. There are several types of paths, activities or areas of expertise where industrial designers specialize in, such as furniture, footwear, electronics, appliances, toys, jewellery, packaging, automotive, among others.

For the design of furniture, for example, according to data collected in the questionnaire to employers, the skills most valued were knowledge of materials, creativity and CAD, while the audiovisual editing or video editing skills were not very much valued. For the design of footwear, the skills most valued are CAD, while the skills of image editing and art were not highly valued. For the design of electronic equipment, mastery of the area of materials, CAD

capability becomes more valued by designers when they enter working life.

adaptation to the evolving context of professional duties.

**4.1. Skills most valued per industrial design specialty**

succeed in the labour market.

functions they perform.

in the field.

be reinforced in the training of these professionals.

**Figure 3.** Image *Renders* of Bio-digester, Bicycle and Basket

#### **3.2. Discussion on design and entrepreneurship**

The elements gathered and discussed enable considering that in the current context, and the geographic scope considered, entrepreneurship is important for the affirmation of the industrial designer, since it is a way of setting up business structures, albeit small or very small, which allows the development of a corporate culture aligned with the activity of industrial designers. The development of this culture itself can sometimes be difficult in larger and established corporate structures, with other cultures prevailing in these cases (e.g., manage‐ ment, economics, and engineering). This clash of mentalities and forms of action among professionals may in some cases jeopardize productivity and personal fulfillment of industrial designers in the aspects that are paradoxically more valued (creativity and innovation). Thus, entrepreneurship in industrial design can be seen as a way to foster a culture of innovation and creativity, benefiting all stakeholders in the socio-economic fabric, as in many cases these micro and small businesses created by designers serve large companies, while maintaining their independence, or even have the ability to directly generate other profitable businesses based on their innovative projects. This section has presented a project by the first author, a venture into entrepreneurship based on a comprehensive concept for ecotourism and com‐ munity development.

### **4. Information collected from surveys**

This section presents the condensed results of two surveys conducted. Complete results can be found in Rodrigues (2011). Entry into the labour market occurs relatively early, as most designers surveyed did not wait more than two years to have their first professional experi‐ ence, which usually occurred in small companies. One of the main difficulties faced by these professionals was working with software that was not known to them. This factor is also considered by employers as one of the biggest problems that designers face when they seek to succeed in the labour market.

In relation to the entrepreneurial spirit of the surveyed designers, the study demonstrated that most of the designers who had had an innovative idea or business during academic training, and when trying to realize this idea had been unable to get financial support for their devel‐ opment, at present, these professionals, come to think about having their own business and thus creating their own jobs. On the analysis of employment held, designer respondents hold a positive spirit, since the majority considered that they had stable employment prospects. As for their salary, most designers think that the salary they receive is not appropriate to the functions they perform.

In terms of the assessment of training for designers, employers positively assess, in general, the training in relation to software taught, though most of them think that more recent software should also be included. Regarding the development of entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of current and emerging technologies, these are aspects that employers consider that need to be reinforced in the training of these professionals.

Considering the answers given by the designers, these suggest that they acknowledge the lack of close contact with business reality during their higher education. The reason for this lack of contact is related to teaching that focuses on many cases in a set of theoretical knowledge that often are not demonstrated or tested by future designers and does not focus enough on practice in the field.

In terms of skills needed to succeed in today's job market and what can be expected for the near future, it is important to highlight some skills related to team performance, namely, the ability to work as a team. Interestingly, throughout the duration of academic training, the ability to work in a team is valued more by teachers than by student-designers, but this capability becomes more valued by designers when they enter working life.

Currently, what is sought in the performance of designers is the mastery of technical skills combined with knowledge about new technologies, but also a focus on creativity and inno‐ vation capacity paired with mastery of a wide range of interpersonal skills to enabling adaptation to the evolving context of professional duties.

#### **4.1. Skills most valued per industrial design specialty**

**3.2. Discussion on design and entrepreneurship**

**Figure 3.** Image *Renders* of Bio-digester, Bicycle and Basket

218 Advances in Industrial Design Engineering

**4. Information collected from surveys**

munity development.

The elements gathered and discussed enable considering that in the current context, and the geographic scope considered, entrepreneurship is important for the affirmation of the industrial designer, since it is a way of setting up business structures, albeit small or very small, which allows the development of a corporate culture aligned with the activity of industrial designers. The development of this culture itself can sometimes be difficult in larger and established corporate structures, with other cultures prevailing in these cases (e.g., manage‐ ment, economics, and engineering). This clash of mentalities and forms of action among professionals may in some cases jeopardize productivity and personal fulfillment of industrial designers in the aspects that are paradoxically more valued (creativity and innovation). Thus, entrepreneurship in industrial design can be seen as a way to foster a culture of innovation and creativity, benefiting all stakeholders in the socio-economic fabric, as in many cases these micro and small businesses created by designers serve large companies, while maintaining their independence, or even have the ability to directly generate other profitable businesses based on their innovative projects. This section has presented a project by the first author, a venture into entrepreneurship based on a comprehensive concept for ecotourism and com‐

This section presents the condensed results of two surveys conducted. Complete results can be found in Rodrigues (2011). Entry into the labour market occurs relatively early, as most designers surveyed did not wait more than two years to have their first professional experi‐ ence, which usually occurred in small companies. One of the main difficulties faced by these professionals was working with software that was not known to them. This factor is also

For each type of trajectory in industrial design, there exists one or more important and beneficial skill and competency for every type of career path. There are several types of paths, activities or areas of expertise where industrial designers specialize in, such as furniture, footwear, electronics, appliances, toys, jewellery, packaging, automotive, among others.

For the design of furniture, for example, according to data collected in the questionnaire to employers, the skills most valued were knowledge of materials, creativity and CAD, while the audiovisual editing or video editing skills were not very much valued. For the design of footwear, the skills most valued are CAD, while the skills of image editing and art were not highly valued. For the design of electronic equipment, mastery of the area of materials, CAD and prototyping were the skills most valued, while the art and video editing skills were not valued. For the design of appliances, skills most valued are mastery of CAD, materials, prototyping and design methodologies. For jewelry design, skills most valued are talent and creativity. For the design of toys, the skills that are most valued concern the area of materials and creativity. Expertise in packaging design, should be grounded on knowledge of types of materials, on CAD mastery and on creativity.

active in the Portuguese language space, with 141 respondents, and the other was addressed to heads of enterprises within the Portuguese language space (responses were only collected in Portugal) employing designers, with 19 responses collected), empirical contributions were collected to complement the literature review studies conducted to enhance the attainment of

Early Stages of Industrial Design Careers http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52857 221

With this work, it was possible to develop an empirical perspective of the challenges facing industrial designers' early career, focusing in particular on designers trained in Portugal. Moreover, the study presents contributions for designers, entrepreneurs, companies and schools that provide training in this area, which may help these groups with tangled interests to pursue their goals more effectively. As civilization makes the transition from the industrial era to one of sustainability, educational leaders around the globe ought to implement a learning system that prepares its young people for life in a unified society. Zinser (2012) provides a starting point to explore what skills and concepts students should be studying to lead the

After the presentation of the findings it is important to highlight some issues that provide some recommendations for future research. Based on the results that were achieved, there are clues

As proposals for future work, springing from the results of the present work, one may consider: **•** Development of empirical reality-based assessment of the design methodologies used by

**•** Exploration of any differences controlled for gender between objectives and practices found

Moreover, some suggestions for implementation by institutions to improve and adapt to meet the challenges encountered in academic education of industrial designers may be outlined: **•** Universities / schools should seek to monitor the changes taking place in the employment marketplace, checking and continuously adjusting their programmes in industrial design to the market, in continuity and in anticipation, in order to respond more effectively to the

**•** Training of designers should no longer be exclusively focused on the mastery of techniques, technologies and methodologies, which in itself is no longer enough, to become much more focused on knowledge of how to carry out interactions, e.g. learning to communicate, learning how to lead, learning and practicing teamwork, as well as enhancing innovation

**•** Institutions should also focus increasingly on acquisition and mastery of technical skills,

maintaining and even increasing incidence on personalized design skills.

the objectives proposed for the study.

about what to explore in future research.

the designers and companies that employ them.

in businesses and especially in companies run by designers.

level of training of designers demanded by employers.

future.

**6. Future work**

and creativity skills.

#### **4.2. Discussion on training and skills top ranked for each type of specialization**

Designers and their employers value a variety of factors and skills, with emphasis on creativity and the ability to bring innovation directed to increased market penetration and shares. Designers value the skills that will help them stand out and gain prestige and professional recognition. Designers are required to possess not only technical skills, but also mastery of methodologies for the execution and implementation of design projects and knowledge of the manufacturing methods.
