The Big Design Challenge was a flagship project within Design of the Times (Dott) Cornwall, a major initiative using design to address social, environmental and economic challenges across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Facilitated by Made Open, the programme invited communities, businesses and designers to work together to explore how creative thinking could improve everyday life in the region.
This includes housing affordability, unemployment, transport connectivity, health and wellbeing.
These issues are shaped by local geography, seasonal economies and social inequality, and cannot be solved by single organisations or top-down interventions alone. The challenge was to find ways to harness local insight and creativity to generate practical, place-based solutions.
Through a series of open calls and facilitated workshops, designers, innovators, students and local residents came together to explore challenges that mattered most to their communities. Participants were supported to research local needs, generate ideas, prototype solutions and test assumptions with real users.
The process emphasised sustainability, inclusivity and long-term social impact.
Projects emerging from the challenge focused on a range of priority themes, including:
By grounding ideas in lived experience, teams were able to move beyond abstract concepts and develop responses that reflected local realities.
The programme culminated in a Dragons’ Den–style pitch event, where teams presented their ideas to a panel for feedback and potential funding.
Several projects progressed into practical products and services, demonstrating how design can act as a catalyst for positive change. The Big Design Challenge showcased the power of collaborative, community-led design to address complex regional issues - and helped build confidence in design as a tool for social innovation in Cornwall and beyond.
