Dragon stars rising

The Dragon Design Fund (DDF) is searching for the future of Chinese design. The non-profit commission is supporting the development of design in China by honoring the top 10 university student designers and linking them with commercial enterprises in order to turn their concepts into real products, according to Ma Zingzheng, manager in charge of DDF.

Creative rewards

The award program - called DDF Dragon Star - is part of the China Guanghua Foundation (GHF), a non-profit group supported by the State-run All China Youth Federation that helps aid China's science and technological development.

For example, Ma says, if a business wants to develop a new mobile phone model, it can draw up a proposal for the DDF with specific requirements such as consumer target group, price and functions. Then DDF will deliver the proposal to university students majoring in design who will submit their designs to a panel of experts and corporate representatives for final approval. The best one is selected and the designer is awarded.

"This is just the first phase of the program," says Ma who adds that a more important part is the industrial application of the design.

As student designers have little or no background in engineering and business, a consulting team organized by DDF and composed of technological, financial and marketing professionals further revise the design to make it marketable.

"Through this process, the students can take full advantage of their designing gifts, obtain a financial award and, most importantly, receive practical knowledge of concepts such as logistics, industrial chains, technological applications and business operations," says Ma.

On the other hand, he points out that the businesses are also beneficiaries, who use their money to not only to support youth development and design industry progress in China but also receive satisfactory, low-cost design work.

The program and a series of design seminars have been held at many universities to promote DDF Dragon Star and the overall design industry.

The Top 10 winners are also candidates for Germany's iF (International Forum Design Hanover) awards, which is one of the world top four industrial design awards along with the United Kingdom's Red Dot Design Award, the Japanese G-Mark (Good Design Award) and IDEA (International Design Excellence Awards).

Design promotion

China Guanghua Foundation Deputy Secretary Zha Derong says that DDF focuses on young designers because they are more creative and their development mirrors the future of China's design industry.

Ever since its establishment in 2005, DDF has organized a string of related awards and activities, involving the annual Top 10 Young Designers of China. They include the DDF Salon, a DDF Creation Class and the DDF China Youth Design Festival.

"We pay as much attention to collaborations with foreign design institutions and studios as well as local and national designers, ideas, and communications," says Zha.

He cites the DDF Salon as an example, where young designers, researchers, business people and policy makers meet to network and brainstorm. The salon brings designers to businesses who need designs and to researchers with ideas about design trends and new requirements. It also brings policy makers and design businesses together to discuss the state of the industry.

DDF also takes efforts to set up cooperation with multinational companies.

In last February, DDF signed an agreement with Nokia (China) Investment Co. Under this agreement, Nokia donated more than 6.7 million yuan to set up the Nokia Young Entrepreneur Education Program Fund at selected universities nationwide for the next three years.

(China Daily 03/17/2008 page8)