The Innovators

The Innovators are people who engineer, design, and develop our places and things

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Meet the Innovators

The Innovators are creative, forward-thinking people who want to use their skills to make the world a better place. They are passionate about design and innovation and are able to consider the needs of the user to solve their problems with innovative solutions.

While many Innovators work in traditional roles (i.e. engineer, graphic designer, etc.) they also design the systems we use to manage our lives.

Innovation is at the core of what they do

Regardless of their industry, Innovators take a fresh approach to create solutions to our problems.

They are often not the end user of the things they create, which means that they need to be able to understand the client and the problem they are solving and put themselves in their shoes.

Innovators are masters of digital and analogue design

Technological systems are so embedded in our ways of working that most Innovators rely on advanced and complex digital technology in their work, regardless of the output they create.

Some Innovators create purely digital products and services, but others use technology to create plans and prototypes for physical products and constructions.

Innovators blend function with form

Innovators are often highly creative people who pride themselves on both the functionality and aesthetics of the solutions they create. For example, UX (user experience) designers need to consider both how a website or app works as well as the visual and emotional experience users go through when using the website or app they design.

While some Innovators may be less concerned with aesthetics, for example where they are designing combat bridges for conflict zones, most need to be able to think about how their innovations will be used in the real world.

They need strong technical design skills

While Innovators also need transferable skills such as communication to help them understand a brief and explain their solution, they primarily need advanced technical skills which often require training and/or experience.

Many Innovators use design software (even when the final output is analogue) and they may need specialist training to be able to use this software for their role.

Where do Innovators work?

Innovators work in a huge range of settings, from the space industry to agriculture, and from fashion design through to marine architecture.

Many Innovators are also working to design and engineer systems, instead of physical things, for example learning designers were involved in creating these Career Clusters, and urban designers work with government to plan out how people move through cities and spaces.

Check out these Innovators

Doris Sung

Architect and Designer

Doris is passionate about sustainable design and she creates smart building materials like thermobimetals for her designs

Lauren Clinnick

Game Developer

Lauren and her team design wellbeing games and apps that bring people together using psychology and software development

Ryan Tilley

Design Engineer

Ryan is an Industrial Designer and Mechanical Engineer who creates cutting-edge, ultra lightweight custom wheelchairs

Jobs for Innovators

Many roles in this Cluster require either initial training or proof of experience and/or ability. For example, you may not need a qualification to work as a musician, but you will need to be able to prove that you can play.