The Design Council have their published their findings following an extensive piece of research conducted into the value of the design industry. The 2015 report, entitled ‘The Design Economy’, considered factors such as gross value added (GVA), and statistics relating to productivity, turnover, employment and exports of goods and services. The report aims to examine just how much design contributes to the financial performance of businesses, and specifically whereabouts in the UK design makes a signification contribution to the local economy. The report found that that :The design economy generated £71.7bn in gross value added (GVA), equivalent to 7.2% of total GVA.Between 2009 -2013 the design economy GVA grew at a faster rate than the UK average.Workers with a design element to their work were 41% more productive than the average.In 2013, the total value of exports where design had made a key contribution was £34bn. This constituted 7.3% of total UK exports in 2013. To read more about the report’s finding please see the link below.http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/resources/report/design-economy-report