On April 9, 2022, the 7th Design Intelligence Award (DIA) is officially launched. The global solicitation of outstanding design works will start on the same day. Before the registration deadline on July 8, 2022 (24:00, UTC+8), all design companies, employed designers, independent designers, and young designers can submit their entries through the official website (www.di-award.org). The total bonus is CNY 5 million (about USD 786,500), and each gold award winner will be rewarded with CNY 1 million (about USD 157,300).
Supported by the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province, DIA is hosted by China Academy of Art, and co-organized by the China Industrial Design Association and the Steering Sub-committee on the Teaching of Industrial Design in Higher Educational Institutions under the Ministry of Education of the PRC. As China’s most international academy award for industrial design, DIA is highly recognized by a number of globally leading designers for its international standards and academic perspective. It attracts thousands of contestants from all over the world every year. In the past six years, the DIA Committee received more than 35,000 entries from 61 countries and regions, and created a cooperative ecosystem in conjunction with hundreds of design academies, industry associations, and design week activities around the world.
The theme of the 2022 DIA is “Design Collaboration”, which means breaking down barriers and building new and harmonious cross-domain and cross-species relationships between human and technology, between human and other creatures, between human and education, between human and medical care, etc. Global experts from different fields will be invited to form a jury. They will select entries that forecast future trends, apply innovative technologies, have great insights into the society, and embody creative cultures and humanist spirit in two steps: Preliminary Evaluation (online evaluation of images and texts) and Final Evaluation (on-site evaluation of physical prototypes and videos). The outstanding design works will play a leading and exemplary role in promoting the high-quality development of the global manufacturing industry.
In view of the cross-domain characteristic of the design industry, entries will be divided into four categories: cultural innovation, life wisdom, industrial equipment, and digital economy. There is no limitation on the forms of entries. An entry can be submitted under either of the two groups: the Product Group or the Concept Group. The Product Group is for design of products that have been commercially available for less than 2 years, or unlaunched products with prototypes provided for evaluation. The Concept Group is for design ideas of unlaunched products, but physical models or videos that explain the design ideas in details are required.
DIA has established the “DIA Design Union” in conjunction with nine countries famed for design, such as UK, France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Japan. It has set up international workstations and overseas sub-divisions. Moreover, it has brought together a galaxy of talented people: representatives of famous industrial design enterprises, heads of well-known design studios, representatives of design organizations, and leaders of prestigious design academies. They form a remarkable international top talent bank, which will empower the development of the brand “Century-old Design Award”.
Wang Yun, Secretary-General of the DIA Committee, noted that this year DIA will join hands with public service organizations to make a difference. It will carry out three theme activities: “DIA Scientific and Technological Innovation”, “DIA Digital”, and “DIA Public Welfare”. DIA will work with various vertical industries to achieve integrated development in economic benefits, social benefits and humanistic spirit.
After six years of development, DIA has become a “cradle of creativity”. It has brought together more than 10,000 designers and 550 senior industry experts around the world, and serves as an industrial accelerator with butterfly effect. It can empower local and regional economic development, strengthen the bond between industrial design and innovation in economic sectors, form a one-stop eco-chain that links design works to enterprises and funds, and help design become the primary productive force. DIA will cooperate with the third largest professional organization to carry out in-depth research on and has an extensive presence in regional characteristic industries. It will boost regional economy through a series of actions such as headquarters building construction, international design exhibitions, international design forums, industrial digital service platforms, investment and financing strategies, and incubation. It can empower the high-quality development of industries. It enables talents to enjoy the superior resources (industrial resources, venture capital investment, media communications, etc.) pooled by the platform. “Specialized, sophisticated, characteristic and novel” design projects with noteworthy innovation and fast growth will be selected and incubated. Great efforts will be made to turn them into new pillars in the future industrial chain through venture capital investment, talent training and technology commercialization.
