On the value of designers in collaborative teams:

Designers have the ability to focus on the bigger picture and focus on what some of the opportunities and objectives might be, and how to get there through collaboration. So rather than assuming right from the beginning that innovation and intellectual property is something that needs to be protected and kept under wraps, there are scenarios where companies could jointly develop ideas with design teams that collaborate and then figure out, how do we make sure that everyone involved in this endeavor will have some kind of a benefit from this innovation? Designers are a small enough community and they know how the process works, and how innovation works, so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All they need to focus on is how to break down the barriers and allow freer communication between these companies.