"For the most talented people and creative ideas": Red Dot presents business success by design in China’s metropolis Xiamen

Design is not only the physical appearance of shapely products, but also the key factor for business success. In November 2013, Red Dot once more encourages manufacturing companies to focus on good design when creating their products in order to improve their competitiveness: As the internationally renowned indicator for outstanding design quality, Red Dot will soon label one of the biggest design and business festivities in the Far East.

From 8 until 12 November 2013, for the second time in a row, the Red Dot organisation will hold the “Xiamen International Business of Design Week – Red Dot in China”. After last year`s successful debut, Xiamen will once again be home to the status quo of best Chinese and international design. The huge South-Chinese port city is a booming region that benefits from its position at the Taiwan Strait: From a geographic point of view, Taiwan as well as Japan and South Korea are even closer to Xiamen than Beijing. This is one reason why the metropolis has a big trade volume and traditionally wide-spread economic impact.

In 2012, Red Dot`s exhibition of award-winning products at the Xiamen International Business of Design Week attracted thousands of qualified visitors. This year, Red Dot presents an inspiring Best Practice show with more than 120 awarded products by 92 companies. Furthermore, there will be assigned booths where Red Dot winners will introduce their design studios and achievements to the visitors.

Professional insights into the world of design are given by internationally renowned experts at the Red Dot Design Forum: In their lectures, Prof. Dr. Peter Zec (initiator and CEO of Red Dot), Hideshi Hamaguchi (Director of Strategy at Ziba Design), Martin Darbyshire (Owner & Managing Director of tangerine) and Prof. Axel Thallemer (Chair of Industrial Design / Head of scionic research at Art University Linz), to name but a few, will point out the connection between economy and design. Last year, more than 500 company representatives, designers and students came to see the presentations. These figures provide impressive proof of the high level of interest in the topic of “Business Success by Design”, the overarching motto of the event.

At the “2013 Xiamen International Business of Design Week”, Red Dot expands its contribution and includes a new component: An option for the visitors to the Red Dot Design Forum will be provided to attend seminars, where they can explore the findings from the presentations in more depth. This model forms the basis for the new Red Dot Academy with a programme that is geared to designers and design managers, but also to entrepreneurs and marketing experts who wish to get further training in the field of design. Red Dot CEO Prof. Dr. Peter Zec on the concept of the new academy: “In our globalised world, the competition is not primarilly for innovation and products, but for the most talented people and creative ideas. In view of Red Dot`s experience and its pursuit of quality, this model by the new academy provides an interesting possibility to become certified as a Red Dot Academy fellow.”

Liu Keqing, Mayor of Xiamen Municipal People`s Government, welcomes the cooperation with Red Dot and looks forward to an inspiring event: “By freeing up the mind and bringing in global pioneering trends, this business design week will promote exchanges and cooperation between the creative and designing industries in Xiamen and its counterparts around the world, and maximise the role of creative design in building corporate innovative capacity and brand value of manufacturing companies.”

In a press conference on 25 September 2013 at the Xiamen Culture and Art Center, Prof. Dr. Peter Zec and the representative official from Xiamen Municipal Government presented further details of the “Xiamen International Business of Design Week – Red Dot in China”.