World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 announces first corporate partners

The first corporate partnerships with World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 were announced on Monday, November 29, 2010. Main partnership agreements were signed with Blue1, Finavia, Fortum, HOK-Elanto, Martela, MTV MEDIA and Viking Line. Partnership agreements were signed with Clear Channel and Stockmann.

The role of corporate partners in the project is exceptionally large, and corporate collaboration is remarkably versatile. Use of design for success in business is on the rise worldwide, and this is reflected in the World Design Capital (WDC) Helsinki 2012 project. Design plays a key and growing role in boosting competitiveness in various sectors of the economy, and the potential of design is increasingly well understood.

WDC Helsinki 2012 acts as a strategic partner to corporations, striving to utilize new ideas and opportunities both domestically and internationally. The project offers a platform for corporations to tap into many opportunities, including international networking and marketing, progress in design know-how, and new influence in society.

“Our corporate partners’ role in the WDC Helsinki 2012 project is exceptional, because their activities become part of the content of World Design Capital. Corporations help to prove that we are a leading and broad-based design city of the future,” says Pekka Timonen, Director of International Design Foundation, the organization that manages the WDC Helsinki 2012 project. “A vision of the power of design is a common denominator in all participating corporations. Naturally different sectors utilize design in different ways. Of key importance for us is that our corporate partners are aware of the potential of design and are able to make use of it.”

The combined value of the first partnership agreements now announced is close to 2,5 million euros. Partnership negotiations will continue in 2011. The targeted total value of all corporate partnerships with WDC Helsinki 2012 is 4 million euros.