外國人在台設立工業設計服務公司的因素、 發展歷程以及與台灣產業的連結

Investment Reasons, Development Courses and Industrial Linkages of Industrial Design Studios Founded by Foreigners in Taiwan

工業設計服務與產品製造業密切相關。然而過去研究很少探討外國人在台設立的工業設計服務公司，特別是其投資的因素、發展歷程、以及與台灣產業的連結。本研究經由調查篩選出「荷商派立（Pilotfish）」、「奎艾特（CRE8）」、「直品研展（XD Design）」三家由外國人設立的工業設計服務公司，並採用多重個案研究法，同時對照相關產業調查文獻，以深度訪談方式瞭解三家工業設計公司與台灣產品製造業，以及在地設計公司之間的關係。結果發現，許多外商設計公司皆成立於2000年初期，其因素與台灣3C產業由OEM轉向ODM與OBM，以及外銷訂單成長所形成的大量設計需求密切相關。而其發展歷程的特徵歸納包括：1.委託客戶的數量變多但委託設計案規模變小；2.產品類型B2C延伸至客製化B2B，再延伸至科技新創公司產品；3.公司人力擴編著重於新的專業與非專業設計人力，使得工業設計師比重反而降低。本研究發現尤其在2006年至2008年間，台灣產品製造商建置完成內部工業設計團隊後，大幅的減少委外設計案，也促使台灣在地設計服務公司進而發展自有品牌文創商品。最後，儘管現今台灣的「買主（3C產品製造業）」已非吸引外商工業設計服務公司的因素，但台灣的設計「供應商」（包括模型公司、少量生產廠商、以及豐沛的委外軟硬體工程人力資源），對於吸引科技新創公司與外國設計師仍具吸引力。本研究的發現可提供設計史（2000-2016年）、工業設計相關產業以及政府政策推展的參考。

dustrial design services are closely related to the manufacturing industry. In this study, we identified three purely industrial design studios (Pilotfish, CRE8, and XD Design) for in-depth interviews. We adopted a multiple case study method and reviewed related industry survey literatures for investigating the development history and the relationships between foreign design studios, product manufacturers and local industrial design studios in Taiwan. The results showed that many foreign design studios were established around year 2000, when many Taiwanese 3C industries were transforming from OEM to ODM and OBM, and when the rapid growth of export orders translated into a growing demand for design. The course of development has three characteristics: 1. The number of clients grew while the budgets for the individual cases shrank; 2. The product types extended from B2C products to customized B2B products, and then to the tech startup product; 3. As the organization in a studio expanded, new types of designers and non-design professionals were added to the workforce, effectively reducing the proportion of industrial designers in the workforce. Notably, from 2006 to 2008, most product manufacturers had completed the establishment of in-house design teams, which caused a substantial reduction in the number of outsourced design cases. This change also pushed local design studios to develop their own brand of cultural products. Finally, despite the fact that Taiwanese “buyers” (3C product manufacturers) are no longer as attractive to international industrial design studios, Taiwanese 'suppliers' (model making companies, small-scale production processing companies, and the ample supply of hardware and software engineers) are still attractive for tech start-ups and foreign designers. These findings might provide useful references for design history research (2000-2016), industrial design-related industries, and government policy-making.