10th Korea Design Conference

Design included among key government tasks under a master plan to create 150,000 jobs by 2012

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy held the 10th Korea Design Promotion Conference on Nov. 28 at the Korea Design Promotion Institute auditorium led by Minister Lee Youn-ho of the MKE and Rep. Chung Jang-sun, chairman of the National Assembly Knowledge Economy Committee, among others.
At the event, professor Park Young-soon of Yonsei University won the Republic of Korea Grand Design Award, the Order of Service Merit, for her contribution to the design industry in Korea. The Order of Industrial Service Merit went to Director Kim Young-hoon of Samsung Electronics Co. and Professor Park Soo-chol of Dongah University won the Service Merit Medal among the 15 people who won the honors for their services to the design industry.
At the event, five companies won grand and excellence awards and four local autonomous administrations got both grand and excellence awards.
Kia Motors Co. won the grand design award and NHN Co. won the excellence award. Ansan City clinched the grand award and Pyeongtaek won the excellence award at the event.
Samsung Corp. Construction Division won the Good Design Award, while the Excellence Award went to Kumho Industry Construction Division. Altogether, 14 companies and 18 brand products received awards.
MKE Minister Lee, in his speech, congratulated the winners of both grand design and good design awards at the event for their contribution to the design industry. He said in the low-carbon green growth age, environmental ideas will be needed in design and the government will take up design as a future growth engine for the economy and continue to give support to the design industry.
Under the integrated development plan for the design industry (2008-2012), the government will include on its major task list the realization of a strong design nation with "reform through design," making it a major futuristic growth engine, and the expansion of the market for design products.
The government will support R&D activities on design in such areas as green design and core design technology, including them in the 18 policy tasks in the design industry, among them the exploration of overseas markets for design products and the creation of jobs in the industry by investing some 258.9 billion won by 2012.
The ministry figures if the plan is a success, it will create some 150,000 jobs, with the output by the industry rising to 14.4 trillion won annually, putting it in fifth place in the world in terms of scale.
Kia Motors won the award for including in its management policies "design management" as one of its future nucleus policies, and hired one of the top three auto designers in the world. The automaker was also given credit for including design as a theme in many of its ads and kicking off a campaign to make design part of the daily management of the company.
NHN Co. was cited for its design of a service information platform on the Internet so that users can search, use and participate in the process of the program's development, which enabled them to experience and learn more about the NHN brand.
Ansan City was cited for setting up a unit in its administration in charge of municipal design for the first time in the country among municipalities to bring changes in the city's streets and other areas. The city hired design specialists to work on design within the city in such places as parks, lakes and other public facilities. The city also set up scholarships for college students majoring in design.
Pyeongtaek was given the Prime Minister's Award for making design an overriding issue for its plans for public facilities through its city design team in charge of all design matters in the city. The city drew up a master plan for the city's development until 2020 to improve the city's landscapes and public installations. The city also made the outdoor ads to be consistent with the city's design regulations.
Samsung Corp's Construction Division won the Presidential award for its design of a bathroom at the Raemian Korean-type apartments. Prime Minister's awards went to Kumho Industry's Construction Division for its design of a cultural space in its apartment complex and Samsung Electronics for its design of its Haptic cell phone. nw

MKE Minister Lee Youn-ho, 2nd R, poses for a photo with the winners of Korea Grand Design Award at the 10th Design Korea Korean Power held Nov. 28 at the Korea Design Promotion Institute auditorium.