Design week 'empowers all-round innovation'

Shenzhen Design Week, which started in 2017, has become a platform involving all walks of life in the city to jointly empower all-round innovation, Han Han, associate professor from Shenzhen University’s Division of Arts, said during an interview yesterday.

“In the past, design focuses more on making cities and people look more beautiful. Now, design has gradually become an innovation-driven mechanism to advance all-round improvement in public services, urban brand development, cultural consumption and so on,” Han said.

A resident appreciates a carpet at an exhibition. Shenzhen Special Zone Daily

“Shenzhen Design Week, with the various mechanisms it created, has enabled the public to join so that design is not just work done by professionals. Citizens’ aesthetic appreciation and acceptance of the city’s cultural identity can be improved by participating in each design practice,” Han added.

Design-driven innovation, unlike market-driven and technology-driven innovations, offers a new perspective on innovative thinking and practice.

Han Han

In Han’s opinion, Shenzhen Design Week is a good example where the city invites people from around the world to have a global dialogue on how design could drive sustainable innovation.

Han added that she is glad to see that the city has created platforms like Shenzhen Design Week to allow design to work as an important engine to advance industrial innovation and help seek new opportunities for businesses and sustainable development in the future.

Shenzhen Global Design Award, one of the key events of Shenzhen Design Week, can also facilitate industrial innovation and provide more opportunities for companies’ development by introducing cutting-edge design concepts, according to Han.

Han observed that Shenzhen has shown strong competitiveness in leading the digitalization development, and new digital technologies have been widely applied in daily scenarios in Shenzhen, which should be a new opportunity for the city to boost its urban culture development and set an example in this regard.