Design Korea 2007, Opportunity
to See Global Design Trends

KIDP organizes the biennial event, third since 2003

Design Korea 2007, held at the COEX in Seoul for an eight-day run from Nov. 29, brought together many globally renowned scholars and the winning products of prestigious design awards in one place at one time, serving as a good opportunity to understand the current trends of the design world.
The event, organized by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) and supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, was composed of the "Good Design Comparative Exhibition,"the "World Best Design Exchange in Seoul 2007,"the "Design Korea 2007 International Conference"and the "Convention on Design Promotion 2007."In particular, unlike the previous ones, Design Korea 2007 partitioned the exclusive Business Zone, established the International Business Pavilion and provided support for attracting buyers in an effort to facilitate exhibitors"business activities. The move was designed to benchmark such business-oriented design exhibitions as 100% Design, the UK's premier contemporary interior event, and the New York Design Exhibition.
One of the event's largest attractions was the World Best Design Exchange in Seoul, which displayed 650 excellent design products screened by 18 design certification institutions in 16 countries: an opportunity to get a glimpse into the unique style of each of the participating countries. Also popular among spectators were the Public Design Hall and the European Design Planning Exhibition Hall in which such design powerhouses as Love & Money of the United Kingdom and CECCP of Italy participated.
The Design Korea 2007 International Conference was divided into public design and design management. The International Conference on Public Design was held on Nov. 29 at the COEX Grand Ballroom. Session I discussed a successful public design management system and the introduction of various policies by advanced countries. Session II dealt with the future of public design with the aim of providing a vision for the design industry as well as suggesting a future direction for Korea's public design concepts. Seven international and Korean design authorities, including David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council of the UK, participated as invited speakers.
The International Conference on Managing Design in the Global Environment was held on Nov. 30 at the COEX Grand Ballroom. The invited speakers were President of DMI Thomas Lockwood, Professor of Strategic Management and Director of Research at the University of Westminster Alison Rieple and Chung Kyung-won, professor at KAIST and advisor for DMI.
MOCIE Minister Kim Young-ju released strategies for the development of the domestic design industry during the Convention on Design Promotion 2007 held on Nov. 29, which announced the winners of the 2007 Korea Design Grand Awards and Good Design Awards. The 2007 Korea Design Grand Award in Design Management (Presidential Award) went to Woongjin Coway while six companies, including Hyundai E&C, received the Excellence Award (Prime Minister's Award).
Since 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 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 participated in Design Korea 2005, engaging in 718 cases of negotiations and yielding 178 contracts.
Renowned institutes represented at the events included the International Forum Design (iF) Award and the 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 were Design Continuum of the U.S., Harley Davidson, Motorola, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and more.
One noteworthy point of the design fair was that the participating companies engaged 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.
For the promotion of the business-to-business (B2B) exhibitions, the institute closely cooperated with Korea's overseas missions, United Kingdom Trade Investment (UKTI), and other capable agents. It invited large-scale foreign buyers to provide companies with more opportunities to reap the fruits of their efforts.
The Design Korea 2007 International Conference separately dealt with "design management"and 'public design' two realms that have become global issues. These issues attracted world-famous design experts and scholars. nw

The Design Korea 2007 has attracted renowned global design scholars and the winning products of prestigious design awards.

Lee Il-kyoo, President & CEO of the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP)