World Design Capital leaders meet in Helsinki

The main international organizations behind the World Design Capital project met in Helsinki for the first time on Friday, September 24, 2010, marking Helsinki’s status as the next World Design Capital and the anticipation of Helsinki’s Design Year 2012. The organizations met to review their expectations for the World Design Capital project.

Pointing out that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, Icsid President Mark Breitenberg said that the 21st century is defined by the challenges of cities, addressing an audience at Helsinki City Hall after the first session of the Friday meeting. “World Design Capital is an opportunity to address the problems, and creativity and economic development are the key drivers of the new century. Design is a tool for cities to reinvent themselves,” Dr. Breitenberg envisioned.    

Icsid, International Council of the Societies of Industrial Design, is the organization that confers the World Design Capital designation to one city at a time for merits in using design as a tool for economic development, as well as social and cultural improvement.  

Dr. Breitenberg said that Icsid was impressed with Helsinki’s bid for the 2012 title and particularly with Helsinki’s concept of “embedding design in life.” “Helsinki can show the rest of the world how design can permeate society,” he declared.

Finnish government backs up WDC Helsinki 2012

Finland’s Minister of Employment and Economy Mauri Pekkarinen declared in the same connection that the Finnish government had made the decision to finance the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project (WDC Helsinki 2012) with five million euros, providing that the participating cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti together provide six million euros for the project according to their earlier commitment.
 
According to Pekkarinen, the Finnish Government sees the WDC Helsinki 2012 project as an important opportunity both to enhance the nation’s competitiveness and to improve public services through user-driven innovation policy. “Design is an instrument to reach both objectives,” Pekkarinen pointed out.