BDW 09 closes with record participation, attracting more than 1,000 visitors

BCN Design Week 2009, organised as part of Innovation Festival Barcelona (IF Barcelona) closed last Friday having achieved considerable success, attracting over one thousand visitors. The excellent results as regards participation, the high standard of the speakers and – particularly – the positive response and satisfaction shown by those attending, all helped to consolidate this international congress as a major event on the international calendar for promoting and discussing design.

From October 26 to 30, then, companies from various production and service industries, along with professionals and experts from the design world, came together once more to share their experience and know-how, generating a series of conclusions and core ideas at thematic sessions devoted to such themes as Design Thinking and Creativity, Design Management, Family Businesses and Creativity, and Mobile Design.

The programme for this Fourth BCN Design Week, which took place over a five-day period, featured activities led by may professionals and internationally-renowned experts, including Gus Rodríguez (Phillips Design), Sue Siddall (IDEO), Matt Barthelemy (Smart Design), Xavier Berneda (Munich), Adam Greenfield (Nokia), Willem Boijens and Germán León (Vodafone), Brian Fling (pinch/zoom), Timo Arnall (Oslo School of Architecture and Design) and Michael Thompson (Design Connect).

Besides these speeches and presentations, the BDW 2009 programme also included other activities, such as the Design Circuit and the award ceremony for the 2009 Cambra Prize for Design Management. This year’s prize went to two firms, Munich and Ficosa, who received their awards at the Casa Llotja de Mar on October 27 from Miquel Valls, president of both BCD and the Chamber of Commerce.

We should also devote particular mention here to the conclusions and core ideas generated by the interventions by experts and professionals participating at the congress:

• Session: “Design Thinking: a new resource for meeting present and future challenges” – October 26

- Design Thinking is a useful resource that can help us to understand the needs of users at different levels, and to design their experiences, whilst also meeting such social challenges as design for all and the need to find sustainable solutions.

- Design Thinking embraces all levels within a company, from the design of products, services and the user experience to finding solutions to problems and drawing up business strategy.

• Session: “Design Management: a competitive advantage for companies” – October 27

- Design, well-managed, provides a tool that enables companies to propose tangible solutions to meet their users’ needs.

- The opportunity for design managers is to demonstrate that design can form a link between creativity and innovation, so that both these elements generate value.

- Design managers often act as facilitators within their organisations, driving the introduction of changes in the way new practices, processes and/or structures are managed.

• Session: “Mobile Design Session: designing mobile experiences” - October 29

- The great challenge facing the “mobile” sector is not technology, but design and adaptation to users’ needs.

- The role that users and consumers play in the process of designing and creating experiences, products and services in the urban ecosystem is set to become ever-more important over the coming years.

- Besides product design, design in the “mobile” sector will also focus on managing the interaction between people, and on structuring user information and access through the most appropriate channels.

• Session: “Family Businesses and Creativity” – October 30

- Design is a crucial resource for family SMEs when it comes to competing with the large corporations and adopting internationalisation processes, as well as for adapting to changes in the market.

- The brand is present throughout the process, from organising the company to the product and service and, in many cases, the “Barcelona” brand is used to represent a “premium” in creativity and innovation.

- Internationalisation, along with creativity, design and innovation, are key elements for Munich, Tres Tintas and Via Veneto, family businesses whose success is based on hard work and commitment.

Noting the great interest this fourth congress generated, BCD general manager Isabel Roig noted that “growing attendance at BCN Design Week and the participation of companies from different sectors makes us optimistic about furthering our goal to promote design and design management as a factor in innovation and competitiveness within the business fabric”.

BCN Design Week 2009 has also acquired special relevance thanks to two events promoted by the European Commission. The first of these is Innovation Festival Barcelona, a project promoted by the Commission and organised by BCD which features a programme of events and activities aimed at raising awareness about creativity, design, innovation and knowledge amongst the general public. BCN Design 2009 was amongst the highlights on the IF Barcelona programme, which includes more than 60 activities staged over a period ending on November 22.

The second of these two major events is European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009, celebrated under the slogan “Imagine. Create. Innovate”. The main objective behind this initiative is to raise awareness about the importance of creativity and innovation as crucial elements in personal, social and economic development.

Preparations begin for BCN Design Week 2010
After achieving record participation in 2009, BCD is more strongly committed than ever to ensuring the continuity of this international congress in coming years. To this end, preparations will shortly begin for BCN Design Week 2010, which will face new challenges and new social economic and global scenarios as we pursue the goal of promoting greater understanding of design and its strategic value both for companies and society in general.