Design Powerhouse KIDP aims to make Korea the world's 7th design powerhouse by 2008 The Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) will strive to achieve its ambitious target of making Korea the world's 7th design powerhouse by 2008, Kim Chul-ho, president and CEO of the KIDP, said recently. Noting that the nation's design ability reaches about 80% of such design advanced countries as the United States and Britain and outstrips the level of Taiwan and China slightly, he said that KIDP will go all-out for the development of the nation's design industry. In an interview with the Korea IT Times, Kim said, "Despite the importance of the design industry and a high ratio of results to investment now standing at 19 times, support for the design sector is still insufficient." Regional design reform projects Accordingly, KIDP plans to newly establish and operate regional design reform projects in order to set up a regional integrationtype design reform system. "Through activation of regional culture projects, including design exhibitions and design contests, we also project to expand regional ability in the design field," said the top manager of the KIDP. "First of all, we will push for the national environment design improvement project to spread the design conception to all environmental and public facilities, including residential and office spaces and roads. We will improve the national image strategically," Kim said. Along with this, KIDP will make best efforts to enhance global competitiveness of the design industry. It will also push for bolstering the design competitiveness through reform of a professional company-centered system by actively fostering competitive core and sound design enterprises and strengthening report conditions by design professional companies. At the same time, it will offer differentiated supporting measures to design enterprises according to the maturity stage, said the president. Spreading global design culture Besides, KIDP plans to support the spot-oriented manpower training in order to effectively cope with industrial demands and bolster its design ability through international cooperation. It will also seek expansion of the design industry's base through spread of design culture and mull over ways of creating a designbased industry carrying high value added, Kim said. Asked about the KIDP's programs for international cooperation for 2006, Kim said that it will hold the Alvar Aalto Exhibition featuring Finland's toplevel design and construction culture in March in Seoul. In June, it will also hold the 41st Korea Industrial Design Exhibition, which is widely called as the gateway to success in the nation's design industry, in June. The 13th Korea Youth Design Exhibition, which provides young design hopefuls with hope and the future vision, will be held in August. Also, KIDP plans to hold the 2006 Design College Exhibition, which links college graduates to employment through their works, at COEX, southern Seoul in November. In particular, KIDP projects to organize the "Design Korea 2006 - Shanghai" event in China in November this year to help Korean enterprises and design-specialized companies lay cornerstone for advancement into the Chinese market, the biggest in the world. "We plan to introduce superiority of Korean design by heralding the nation's excellent design products and enterprises to Chinese enterprises. It is the second event KIDP held in China, following the 'Design Korea 2004 - Beijing.' We finished the Beijing event successfully by attracting more than 50,000 visitors a day and receiving requests from the Chinese side to extend the exhibition period," Kim said.

The following are excerpts from the interview with CEO Kim Chul-ho of the KIDP. Q: Would you comment the importance of design, which is widely regarded as the next-generation growth engine A: Design has been recently emerged as a powerful mean to achieve "reform," now being strongly pushed by private enterprises and the government. In case that design is used as not a simple styling but a process of solving problem, design can suggest useful solutions to many problems spreading in the overall society. In particular, design can be an effective strategy for enterprises to create openminded corporate culture, explore new markets and manage total brands. If we define that design is a process of commercializing technology and idea, design will decide the method of meeting commodity and service with customer. A report announced by the economic research institute of a company defined that a good design refers to a design offering good experience to customers until they buy, use and abolish a product. Accordingly, we can say that the role of design is to reflect consumers' conscious and unconscious expectations and desire to product through study on users. Q: Would you introduce design-related success stories of global enterprises A: Viewing such global enterprises as Philips, Apple, British Airways, IBM and Nike, we can know that they achieved success by using design as a core managerial strategy. Apple CEO Steve Jobs who succeeded in coming back with such reformative design products as iMac and iPod, said, "Design is the soul in the center of manmade creations." He has a firm design mind and has pushed ahead with design management. Under the recognition that design is the last place to contend for victory, Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Group, has emphasized securing design competitiveness for production of world premium products. According to a research report announced by Design Council of Britain, the stock value of design-centered enterprises in the British FTSE 100 index (stock index of top 100 enterprises jointly operated by London Stock Exchange and Financial Times) soared as much as 200% that of other companies during the 10-year period from 1994 to 2004. In this way, design is in the limelight of growth engine for the future, generating great effects on enterprises, government and living of individuals. Because of the influencing power and importance of design, major advanced counties establish design policies from the national viewpoint and exert best efforts for securing the global leadership in the design field. Q: KIDP has been implementing a variety of projects for small and medium-sized enterprises. Would you introduce some projects A: KIDP has been spending some 12 billion won ($12.3 million based on 2005) a year for a variety of projects supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. First of all, KIDP has been carrying out the design reform technology development project, which helps small and mediumsized enterprises suffering from shortage of design development ability or designers develop new designs of products, packages, characters and brands by linking them with design-specialized companies or universities, It also extends loans up to 1 billion won ($1.02 million) to smaller companies at favorable terms and conditions for development of design reform technology. After selecting success design products among goods produced by enterprises that participated in the design reform technology development project, KIDP supports them for PR and sales promotion activities. Since 2004, KIDP has been focusing its supports on smaller companies producing the world's top-class products or next-generation growth-oriented goods. It is also actively supporting companies exclusively engaging in development, survey, analysis, and consultation businesses of industrial design. Q: Do you have any comments on the design industry A: Now design has become the last place for enterprises to contend for victory. The design sector is an advanced industry carrying high value added and a core engine power to narrow the nation's gap with advanced countries. Accordingly, concern and investment in the design industry will be a short cut to make Korea an advanced country with per capita national income of over $20,000.