AGDA DNA 050110

5th January, 2010

Regular updates on design news and activities of the national council and executive office

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Happy New Year Greetings from Singapore, an island republic of 4.8 million people, and rising; a ‘nation in the making' according to its Minister Mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

Their chimes for the start of 2010 were certainly ringing on a higher note than those of 2009, with forecasters remaining bullish on growth prospects. Buoyed by a rise in private home prices of 7.3% from the last quarter, and a year index gain of 8.1% for public housing resale prices (an all time high), it's status is in stark contrast to the crippled US real estate downward spiral.

The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI reported an expansion in China's manufacturing for the ninth straight month as government stimulus spending boosted domestic demand and foreign sales rose in line with the World Bank forecast of 8.4% for their 2009 GDP. China's capital and property markets are reported to be also on the rebound. (1)

Similarly, the Indian government's stimulus stroked Asia's third-largest economy, driven upward "by better economic conditions, business investments and promotional activities."

AGDA is part of Icograda's global network of member associations, and alliance insights can be gleaned from the ANZ's five-year plan to build its Asia-Pacific networks to include Singapore, China, India, Malaysia, Korea and Japan, amongst others in the Asean region.

Design Singapore

The 26th Icsid World Design Congress was held for the first time in Singapore during November 2009 as part of the Singapore Design Festival organized by the DesignSingapore organisaton, a proactive government funded body that has spearheaded many design initiatives – transforming its growing international reputation from 22nd (2003) to 16th (2005) to 15th (2007) position, and outranking Australia at 21st, 29th, 27th respectively in the Global Watch Reports* and The Design Competitiveness Reports based on data from the World Economic Forum. (2)

These initiatives embody visibility, activity and discourse; and they include awards programs, design conferences, events, design related consultancies, off-shore companies establishing design labs, design schools investments, as well as international networks and agreements.

www.designsingapore.org

Design Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Singapore measures its Design Performance via 4 criteria
- VA (value-added) contribution to the GNP: S$1.94 billion (2003), S$2.25 billion (2005)
- Employment numbers in the sector: 29,343 (2003), 33,503 (2005)
- VA/Employee combined values: S$66,100 billion (2003), S$67,200 billion (2005)
- Number of Design practices: 5,450 (2003), 5,885 (2005)

In 2005, the Visual Communication sub-sector contributed S$526 million to the GNP and 8,707 employees to the workforce.

Projections are that the Design sector will contribute about S$3.0 billion in 2009 and S$4.6 billion in 2015 to the GDP by implementing the DesignSingapore strategic blueprint of Professional Development, Design Learning and International Market Development. (3)

Global Design Watch Reports*

Global Design Watch: Research Study by DESIGNIUM, the New Centre of Innovation in Design, at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki.

"The principal objective of the study was to compare the effects of national design programmes on national competitiveness in the design sector...monitor the design policies of these countries and the strategic content of the programmes, drawing up design competitiveness rankings using selected indicators at intervals of a few years. Designium's reports in 2003 and 2006 aimed at laying a foundation for long-term evaluation and analysis." (4)

The latest Global Design Watch report dated September 2008 lists the 10 highest ranking countries to be Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Finland, United States, Republic of Korea, France.

The Design Competiveness Ranking components in the research are:
Company spending on research and development
Conpanies in your country
= do not spend money on research and development
= spend heavily on research and development relative to international peers

Nature of competitive advantage
Competitiveness of your country's companies in international markets is primarily due to
= low cost or local natural resources
= unique products and processes

Value chain presence
Exporting companies in your country are
= primarily involved in resource extraction or production
= not only produce but also perform product design, marketing sales, logistics, and after sales services

Capacity for innovation
Companies obtain technology
= exclusively from licensing or imitating foreign companies
= by conducting formal research and pioneering their own products and processes

Production process sophistication
Production processes use
= labour-intensive methods or previous generations of process technology
= the world's best and most efficient process technology)

Extent of marketing
The extent of marketing in your country is
= limited and primitive
= extensive and employs the world's most sophisticated tools and techniques

Degree of customer orientation
Firms in your country
= generally treat their customers badly
= are highly responsive to customers and customer retention)

Extent of Branding
Companies in your country that sell internationally
= sell into commodity markets or other companies that handle marketing
= have well developed international brands and sales organizations)

Uniqueness of product designs
Product designs are
= copied or licensed from abroad
= developed locally

AGDA Website Postings

Check out the latest:

Design Currency: Icograda Design Week - Early Bird reminder

22 International Poster Biennale Warsaw 2010 - Call For Entries

ADFEST Advertising Awards 2010 - call for entires

Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award- expressions of interest

An interview with Erik Spiekermann of Edenspiekermann by Adrian Shaughnessy - Part 1

9th AGDA Awards 2008 Compendium

Till next week,

Cheers,

Rita Siow

AGDA Executive Director

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(1) The Business Times Tuesday 5 January 2010, Singapore Press Holdings Publication
(2) World Economic Forums 2002, 2005 
(3) Dsg-II Strategid Blueprint of the DesignSingapore Initiative ©2009
(4) Reports "Global Design Watch: April 2006", "Global Design Watch: September 2008" by DESIGNIUM, the New Centre of Innovation in Design, at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki.

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