Get expert business support - fully funded through the Glasgow Business Growth Programme
Spreng Thomson is a partner of Phase 3 of Glasgow City Council’s Business Growth Programme - a multi-lot, multi-supplier framework designed to encourage and support growth within the city’s vibrant business ecosystem.
In collaboration with award-winning international design studio Graven, we offer fully-funded, expert support in Design Thinking through Lot 5 of the programme, helping you grow your business and deliver innovation.
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is a means of using creative and collaborative approaches to identify and overcome issues and exploit opportunities.
It’s an effective way to overcome day-to-day obstacles, for spotting and benefitting from opportunities, for nurturing team-working and for giving people the future skills they need to flourish in our changeable times.
Design Thinking enables you to apply:
- Creative problem-solving to devise appropriate solutions
- Adaptability to change to suit different conditions
- Resilience to learn from failure
- Enterprise to recognise and act on opportunities
- Empathy to understand the needs and perspectives of others and the impact you have on them
- Self-awareness to understand your own strengths, weaknesses and the value of your own background, knowledge and experiences
- Digital competency to be digitally literate – giving you the ability to collaborate, communicate and network using digital platforms and technology
The Design Thinking process systematically brings together and builds upon all of these skills to capitalise opportunities and to scope that overcome issues.
See an example of our work with art and design studio Friends of Wilson in the video below:
"In 2025, I worked with Spreng Thomson and Graven on the Design Thinking programme for the launch and promotion of Linear, Friends of Wilson’s first lighting product.
With their expertise and a clear commitment to the project, they helped bring to life the ideas behind its conception and our studio's approach to design for the circular economy. With a focus on delivering a clear, distinctive message for the product launch and its application in the commercial interior sector. This resulted in some excellent press coverage and industry exposure that we would otherwise not have had.
It was a genuine pleasure to collaborate with Zach, Lesley and Janice both personally and professionally. As a small business, their input, guidance and support provided a valuable learning experience. The process of creating engaging video content, scripting and presentation and the staging of the product's photo shoot added depth and meaning to the project. And brought to light new ideas for our studio's design thinking going forward. I very much look forward to working with them on future FoW projects."
Lynne Wilson, Director, Friends of Wilson
How do I apply?
Find out if you’re eligible and apply on the Glasgow City Council website here.
This project is fully funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
