Design Center of the Philippines Stages 3rd International Design Conference

The Design Center of the Philippines, a leading government agency committed to cultivating a Filipino culture that thrives in creativity, value creation, and innovation, staged its 3rd Annual International Design Conference on September 20 at The Eye in Green Sun Hotel, Makati. This year’s theme highlighted key aspects of Design Futures that aim to empower current and future Filipino businesses, entrepreneurs, and design stakeholders.

Through this year’s edition of the International Design Conference, the Design Center looked to spark the conversation that would then lead to the creation of a proactive design response to Industry 4.0.

“The landscape is changing all over the world with disruptions brought by technology in various sectors. These changes greatly influence and shape the future of our economies. With this, we are proactively working with experts and industry leaders to take our conversations to the future, not to predict it, but to shape and approach it through the lens of design and innovation. This is where we want to take our creative industries and businesses in general,” said Rhea Matute, Executive Director of the Design Center of the Philippines.

Bringing in industry experts from across the world, the International Design Conference welcomed over 500 participants from the design and business community in the country. The conference shed light on the use of design and innovation in understanding and shaping a future with emphasis on the quadruple bottomline of People, Planet, Prosperity, and Purpose.

With five plenary talks, the one-day thought leadership platform highlighted topics that are essential in our present industries including the implications of a design-led future; the future of our cities with the rise of smarter cities across the globe; the use of materials that are building blocks of design; the influence of smart technologies toward sustainability and self-sufficiency; and today’s intersection of craft, technology, and social innovations.

The conference kicked off with a video message from Unfold Founder Claire Wernier (Antwerp, Belgium) for the first plenary, Design Futures, followed by the Future of Cities plenary session featuring Fab Lab Barcelona Director Tomas Diez (Barcelona, Spain), The Mills Fabrica Co-Director Alexander Chen (Hong Kong SAR, China), and Bases Conversion and Development Authority Executive Vice President Aileen Soza (Taguig City, Philippines).

The conference also served as the culmination of the IDC Pitching Session, in which four teams of young, bold thinkers presented their best ideas on how to use design as a force for good. In front of a powerhouse panel of industry leaders and the Conference audience, Greg Balondo (arkayv.com), Gerome Sta.Maria (Diwata), Dean Cuanso (Bespoke Forever Wedding Bouquet), and Marthy Angue (Catwander) pitched how they intend to innovate to change the world.

The thought-provoking conversations on business and design continued with the third plenary, Materials Matter, headlined by Material ConneXion Executive Vice President Dr. Andrew Dent (New York, USA), followed by the Tech for Good plenary featuring unspun Chief Hacker and Co-Founder Kevin Martin (California, USA) and Jacob Jensen Design (JJD) Chief Operating Officer Manuel Veiga Aldemira (Shanghai, China).

Concluding the conference was the final plenary session, on Craft, Tech, and Social Innovation, featuring JJD Creative Director Sebastien Maleville (Bangkok, Thailand) and FELTA Multi-media, Inc. President and CEO Mylene Abiva (Quezon City, Philippines).

Through fireside chats, Hub of Innovation For Inclusion (HIFI) Director Abigail Mapua-Cabanilla and adobo Magazine President and Editor-in-Chief Angel Guerrero also broadened the discussion on how design can save the world.

Design Center, an attached agency of the Department of Trade Industry, has been at the forefront of implementing programs and services that emphasize the greater role that design plays in the advancement of the country’s economy. Banking on its experience in rallying the creative industries and its stakeholders, it seeks to advance the use of design as a strategic tool in improving the quality, competitiveness, and branding of Filipino products and services into the global market.