ANNUAL REPORT
Hungarian Design Council 2006
The HDC celebrates the fifth anniversary of its reneuval this year so there's been enough time to see the new directions of Hungarian design that meet the requirements of today's economic conditions and environmental policies as a result of the Council's efforts. The HDC regards cooperation between the relevant economic, arts and technical institutions and the related professions i.e. interdisciplinarity as a key element in the development of design. This relationship has induced processes that support both design and the economy: they reinforce design's role in the economy which, in turn, has an impact on the economy by improved competitiveness. Another key to success is active international networking, as well as raising awareness in society about the importance of design, and presenting design as a value-added tool for enriching the functionality and aesthetics of goods, making their production more ergonomic and environmentally friendly.
As a consultative body set up for representing interests and opinions, the HDC monitors the development of the legal status of the profession and supports it with its expert recommendations with special respect to interest protection and intellectual property issues. These objectives were expressly stated in the HDC's three-year working program made in 2005.
At the moment, the Council has a three-year mandate lasting until 2008. Its task is to develop and manage a general working program in order to develop Hungarian design in accordance with the economic policy, innovation, environmental policy and education policy targets (pursuant to Government Decree 266/2001).
The HDC's tasks include the management of the Hungarian Design Award and the Moholy-Nagy László Design Grant, and the organisation of professional programs and exhibitions. As a member of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) and the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA), the Council maintains international contacts with design organisations and promotes Hungarian design in the international community.
Design Education and Research
Today it is clear that the economic decision-makers have to possess up-to-date business knowledge concerning the application of design. At the same time, it is important that designers should also be aware of the legal and business information they need to know in order to stay on the market. It is a fundamental task of universities and colleges and other high-level educational institutions specialising in design to make also career-starters competitive in this field. The HDC helps the relevant Hungarian institutions create an educational system which is capable of performing this task.
In order to provide high-quality training for economic experts also in the field of design innovation, the Council prepared a draft curricula in cooperation with the Marketing and Media Institute of the Corvinus University of Budapest. The course entitled "Corporate Management Issues of Design" starts in February 2007.
We signed general cooperation agreements with institutions specialising in the training of professional designers in order to achieve our common goals. The Council has supported the professional development of the design students of three Hungarian universities and provided an opportunity for presenting themselves.
The last meeting of the HDC in 2006 dealt with the course programs, curricula and infrastructure of the bachelor and master courses in industrial product development and design launched at Hungarian universities and colleges, and the exchange of experience between the design professors of the individual educational institutions. The Council invited representatives of the Budapest University of Technology and Economic Sciences, the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, and the University of West Hungary to discuss the above issues. The next step of the process will be to launch and review the master courses. The Council will continue this activity also in 2007 involving the University of Kaposvár.
Design and Economic Development
The HDC wishes to make people aware that design has a great potential in boosting the economy and that neither manufacturing industry nor the services sector can become successful without design. It is the Council's conviction that design is indispensable in corporate innovation.
In 2006, the Hungarian Design Awards were announced for the 27th time. The Bureau of the Hungarian Design Council organised and held the professional competition on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Transport. In addition to recognising the performance of talented designers, the Hungarian Design Award has the objective to show business professionals the business potential and value that high-quality design can add to their products.
The Council has built partnerships with many industrial organisations and trade associations, and also had joint programs with them.
Design Promotion
One of the most important tasks of the HDC's three-year working program is to provide wide-ranging information for both the professional community and the general public. To that end, the Council has expanded the publicly available information, the news of the profession and community and assisted in the organisation of the major trade events.
Its periodical newsletter, the information published on its website at www.mft.org.hu and its extensive press relations have enabled the HDC to make the efforts of the design community known to the public.
The Council supported the Made in Hungary exhibition at the Home Trend & Design Exhibition in March and was the sponsor of the Design Week event organised by Design Terminál Kht.
We have completed the digitalisation of the image archive and the documentation of the history of the Hungarian Design Award celebrating its 25th birthday. The archive will be gradually available on the HDC's website.
At the Eulda European Logo Design Award 2006 competition, Zoltán Csordás won the Best of Nation Award for the HDC's logo. This competition is announced every year to graphic artists in order to find the best logos in Europe. The jury is made up of three groups of ten people each, including designers of the Pan-European Brand Design Association, business professionals and investors representing the Marketing Forum as well as "outsiders" i.e. people representing the target audience of the logos themselves. The works of the year 2006 competition winners including the work of made by Zoltán Csordás were published on the organisers' website at www.eulda.com. The graphic design excels especially with its witty concept: the same form is rearranged into three different shapes resulting in the three initials of the Council.
International Relations
The Hungarian Design Council is deeply involved in the international cooperation of design organisations: in 2005 it joined the Bureau of European Design Associations and in the same year Director of the Council Ms. Várhelyi Judit was elected to the Board of one of the world's most important design organisations, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). It is partly attributed to this fact that the HDC's recognition improved abroad which can be proved with tangible results, and it can present the new achievements of the Hungarian design community to a growing audience.
The Hungarian Design Council is member of both European and world design associations, and also participates in the Executive Board of the latter one. Thanks to this, the recognition of the HDC and, through it, of Hungarian design has improved while the latest international information and experience have become available to everyone in Hungary. Our active presence made it possible to distribute professional materials, invite experts and participate in conferences. The joint work with international experts and the opportunities to introduce ourselves created by the events organised alongside the meetings have defined the Council's position in the international network of the profession. Icsid coordinates projects such as the World Design Capital competition.
Thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA), design will receive a unique code in the new European classification system, NACE as an independent professional area. The Bureau of the HDC has closely cooperated with BEDA and then with the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in the translation of NACE which will become the basis for the Hungarian nomenclature system, TEÁOR. The new TEÁOR is expected to take effect in 2008.
At the HDC's invitation, renowned experts have come to Hungary to share their experience and research results with Hungarian design professionals and students. Polish designer Jerzy Porebski was invited to the evaluation committee of the Hungarian Design Award, British textile designer Sharon Baurley held a lecture about intelligent textiles at the Plastics exhibition of the Museum of Ethnography. The HDC presented the institutions and the history of Hungarian design, and the winners of the Hungarian Design Award and the Moholy-Nagy László Design Grant at Polish, Slovenian, Indian, Italian and Austrian conferences.
The HDC took part in an international consortium, Composites-on-Tour 2, which is a biennial EU project to promote fibre-reinforced polymers. The Composites-on-Tour-2 project was created with the collaboration of eight European organisations. Supported by the "Science and Society" section within the "Research, Technological Development and Demonstration" programme of the European Commission, the aim of the project is to bring composites technologies closer to the public integrating science and design. The Hungarian Design Council participates in the project in cooperation with the Budapest University of Technology and Economic Sciences. The other six participating institutions are: the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Design Flanders, Brussels; the Barcelona Design Centre; the JEC Group; BIO - Biennial of Industrial Design, Ljubljana; and Designplatform Eindhoven. As a basis of the project, an open competition was announced in the spring of 2006, and the submitted designs were reviewed in the autumn by the evaluation committee headed by world-famous British designer, Ron Arad. The committee was set up of renowned international experts including designer József Zalavári representing Hungary. The competition focused on consumer products that use composites in an intelligent and innovative way; this time the competition was limited to fibre-reinforced polymers. In each parcitipating country, the competition was accompanied by a workshop program including presentations and material demonstrations. The winning works are first presented at the gallery of Design Flanders in Brussels starting from 15 February 2007, supplemented by a scientific and information brochure. After this, the exhibition starts a round tour in the other member countries including Hungary in which it will arrive in June 2007.
A Hungarian and English-language public database was published on the HDC's website, which collects the design institutions of twenty countries in our region. The database is expected to prove usueful for building partnerships, reinforcing regional networks and providing a cultural overview.
Supporting the Design Profession
The Council has also played a role in supporting career-starting young designers, helping them get into contact with business managers interested in design development and create the conditions for their growing professional recognition.
The Council announced and co-financed the Moholy-Nagy László Grant together with the National Institute for Research and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Hungarian Patent Office.
We have completed a documentation package for young career-starters containing bidding, legal, entrepreneurial and intellectual property information. The Council engaged leading representatives of the trade to support the preparation of the package. This information database will be accessible from the summer of 2007 on the HDC's website.
The National Association of Hungarian Creative Artists announced for the first time a national competition entitled "Gyermek-Játék" (Child-Play) for professional artists, art university students and secondary school pupils. The winners of both categories will receive an award funded by the Hungarian Design Council.
The Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Transport has approved the annual report of the Hungarian Design Council.
Calendar of Events
January 19-21 2006 Design-Culture/Economy Conference in Warsaw, at the Warsaw University of Arts.
2 February 2006 Professional presentation organised jointly by the Hungarian Patent Office and the Hungarian Trademark Association entitled Design as a key to success - A good design can decide all.
10 February 2006 The first session of the HDC. Summary exhibition of the Moholy-Nagy László Design Grant recipients at the Museum of Applied Arts.
10 February 2006 Design Conference organised by the Italian Patent Office in Rome.
1-5 March 2006 Home trend & Design Exhibition, Made in Hungary exhibition with the HDC's participation.
17-19 March 2006 ICSID Board Meeting.
24-25 March 2006 BEDA Annual General Assembly, Vienna.
11 April 2006 In conjunction with the commemoration organised on the World Intellectual Property Day, an exhibition of the works of the Moholy-Nagy László Grant recipients was opened in the Gödör Club at the Erzsébet Square.
3 May 2006 Pannon Novum Regional Innovation Conference in Szombathely.
11 May 2006 Conference in partnership with the Furniture and Wood Industry Association.
26-28 May 2006 ICSID Board Meeting.
31 May 2006 The second session of the HDC.
1 Jun 2006 Workshop - Composites on Tour.
10-11 June 2006 Central and Eastern European regional design meeting in Poland.
15-18 September 2006 ICSID Board Meeting.
26 September 2006 Report and consultation for the recipients of the Moholy-Nagy László Design Grant.
2 October 2006 Gala ceremony of the Hungarian Design Award and opening of the exhibition.
3-6 October 2006 BIO 20 (Biennale of Industrial Design) in Ljubljana.
11 October 2006 The third session of the HDC.
13-14 October 2006 Cumulus Conference in Warsaw.
17 November 2006 Presentation and exhibition tour at the Intelligent Textiles exhibition in the Ethnographical Museum.
30 November 2006 The fourth session of the HDC.
1-5 December 2006 ICSID Board Meeting.