So far in its 10-year history, the center – formed in 1997 through a partnership between Rhode Island School of Design and Bryant University – has focused more on programming and workshops than on its role as a resource center for universities, companies and governments interested in implementing design thinking.

Through its restructuring, Foulkes is broadening the center’s network of partners to include more universities and companies. And he is widening the center’s scope by making it more accessible to the global business community.

If it could be compared to anything, Foulkes wants the center to mimic the function of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, which supports more than 350 research projects per year and involves sponsors in more than $30 million of research programming.

Though the center already had helped launch 70 new products, incubate and launch 20 new companies, promote and organize 70 roundtable discussions/workshops and attract more than 3,200 attendees to its annual Success by Design conference last year, Foulkes saw the opportunity to expand.