This was the keynote presentation at a research conference sponsored by Fiat, Ford and Volkswagen. Harrow argued the need for the automotive industries to evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century. He explored the new roles of ‘car design’ through analysis of its history, processes, methods and ideologies, and considered how changing social, technical and use patterns will affect cars and the wider mobile society in the future. Harrow invited conference participants to consider what new approaches will become standard and the fit with other design professions and ways of working. On subsequent days he contributed a lecture on automotive design research practice, with particular emphasis on the role of innovation in emerging industrial nations, and was one of three leading figures in a debate on design identity in emerging markets.
Related dissemination included the opening keynote lecture at the ‘10th International Symposium on Automotive Lighting’, Technische Universität Darmstadt (2013). Harrow was a speaker and panel member at the ‘Battle of Ideas 2010’ and contributed to the Cheltenham Science Festival ‘Future Cars’ (2008). In 2010, he contributed ‘Italian design on the road’ to a Design Museum lecture series and has made many other presentations on these themes internationally.
Harrow’s interactions with the automotive world are two-way, advising international leaders while simultaneously augmenting his own knowledge. These leaders include graduates of the programme Harrow has headed for 20 years, who are directors at Ford, Audi, Mercedes, Škoda, GM, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Kia, Volvo and Aston Martin. Other interactions have been with leaders at Tata, Bentley, Nissan, Hyundai, McLaren, Citroën, Mini, Finmeccanica and Hitachi. There have been approximately 60 such meetings 2008-onwards, including in Korea 2008, Detroit 2010, 2011, Shanghai and Beijing 2010, Turkey 2010, 2012, Geneva 2011, Aalto 2011, Brazil 2011.