Design Korea 2007:
Symbolic Global Fair

World-renowned design experts will discuss current global trends and business promotion techniques.

       
An international design exhibition of world-class design products will be held in Korea. 'design Korea 2007'will be the largest 'good design'exhibition. Since it began in 2003, the Design Korea event has been held every other year at home and abroad. It is open to the public and has been playing the role as the Centrum der Buro- und Informationstechnik (CeBIT) expo of the design field, helping to connect design firms and general businesses, as well as facilitating collaboration between designers. In fact, 1,468 buyers from 25 countries spanning the globe participated in the Design Korea 2005, engaging in 718 cases of negotiations and yielding 178 contracts.
The Design Korea 2007 will be held in the COEX convention halls for eight days starting Nov. 29. The event will be composed of the "World Best Design Exchange in Seoul 2007,"the "DESIGN KOREA 2007 International Conference,"and the "Convention on Design Promotion 2007."Eighteen institutes from 17 countries will take part in the events. Renowned institutes attending the events include the International Forum Design(iF) Award and Red-Dot Design Award of Germany, and Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) of the United States, participating as selectors of good design awards. Other major participants are Design Continuum of the U.S., Harley Davidson, Motorola, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and more.
One noteworthy point of the upcoming design fair is that the participating companies will engage in brisk public relations activities by focusing on the design visions of the businesses, as well as the design processes and success stories of designers, rather than merely displaying design goods. By separating the business zone and public zone, the fair will aim to assist design advertisement and companies'business interests at the same time.
The event aims to bring in 180,000 visitors for the November events, compared to 160,000 in 2005. For the promotion of the business-to-business (B2B) exhibitions, the institute is planning to closely cooperate with Korea's overseas missions, United Kingdom Trade Investment (UKTI), and other capable agents. It aims to invite large-scale foreign buyers to provide companies with more opportunities to reap the fruits of their efforts.
The DESIGN KOREA 2007 International Conference will separately deal with the 'design management'and 'public design', two realms which have become global issues. These will attract world-famous design experts and scholars. nw

A poster of Design Korea 2007, to be opened for an eight-day run on Nov. 29 at the Coex in Seoul.