Corporate Competitiveness Starts from Design Innovation

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Owing to today's global trend towards a more open market, the Korean economy is fast changing. And Korea's design industry, too, is confronted with a challenge to build up international competitiveness and prepare for further market openings as has been witnessed in recent years by the conclusion of free trade agreements (FTAs).

Touted to be a typical knowledgebased industry of the 21st century, the design industry needs to drastically reshape its infrastructure to meet global standards. That's what experts and industry watchers say as the industry has been gaining much publicity along with the growing public awareness that the industry is an indispensable element of today's economy for boosting the quality of the life of people both in name and substance.

The design industry, after all, is reputed to be a future-oriented industry that is based on knowledge and has the most potential to create new high values in various spheres of life including science technology and culture and the society in general.

Against such a background, the Korean Society of Design Science will be hosting the 2007 International Design Academic Symposium on May 25~26 under the theme of Convergence of Universal Design and Information Technology.

At the gathering, presentations will be made by Professor Morita Yoshitsugu of Kyushu University, President Toshimitsu Satamura of GATAP Co., and Shin Sang-young, executive director of LG Design Center. A keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Abir Mullick of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Design companies under fierce international competition

"The convergence of design and information technology deserves due attention," said Woo Heung-ryong, dean of the School of Art and Design at Seoul National University of Technology and the president of the Korean Society of Design Science.

To nurture a next-generation growth industry, Woo stressed that: "Design companies of today must secure state of the art technologies while corresponding to new knowledge-based social practices and lifestyles." In particular, he said that as the culture industry is generated in the process of converging with economy and technology, the socalled design approach is in high demand under today's fiercely competitive business environment as highlighted in the conclusion of FTAs.

Moreover, he added: "The absence of strategies on the macro level weakens the competitiveness of Korean firms more than the absence of the design competitiveness itself, thus bringing about failures in their efforts to adapt to local business environments in overseas markets."

In this context, Woo said that related business circles in Korea need to expand overseas customers by holding forums, exhibitions, road shows, and other forms of marketing schemes.

About the latest design trends in the world market President Woo noted: "In the case of Apple, Nokia and Swatch, the leading companies whose products are sold all over the world, their designs are not tailor-made for different cultures of the world but universally accepted and held dear by world customers."

In terms of market size in the UK, he said that there are about 4,000 design firms with their total sales posting 4.6 billion pounds (US$9.2 billion) and overseas profits accounting for 700 million pounds (US$1.4 billion).

In addition, he said that the UK and the Netherlands, the two leading countries in the field of design, are presenting all sorts of national incentives for the sake of revitalizing the creative industry.

The two countries currently employ about 70,000 and 240,000 people in the design industry respectively.

Mutually beneficial global projects

"Thanks to the outsourcing of domestic corporations, overseas design firms' penetration into Korea is on the rise," explained Woo with respect to the marketing trend of the international design industry. Moreover, KOTRA's London office has announced an education and industry cooperation project to link Korea's design firms with young designers in the UK. This is part of a project to help small domestic design firms mired in stagnant growth due to poor design despite good quality performance.

On top of this, Woo pointed out, worldrenowned designers have been spotting Korea as their business partner to produce the most competitive product designs.

As to the direction in which Korean design firms should follow, Woo suggested a network-based participation model for tailor-made design technologies based on cooperative partnerships tied into a network.

Second, he proposes that design related affiliates should possess core technologies for the development of Korea's own digital entertainment and cultural content. Lastly, Woo advised that Korea's design-related business circles should possess smart design technology as core design competences including Universal Design, Environment-Friendly Design, 3D Interactive Design and Emotional Interface Design.

Design at the center of value creation

In regard to how the surplus manpower in the field of design can be utilized, Woo said that a pre-circulation ring for the design workforce must be forged. He explained that such an excessive manpower can be reduced through the reeducation or incubation process by which those designers can set up their own companies.

On the question of the design industry's possibility to grow as a high valueadding knowledge industry, the president noted: "The role of design as the central element in a value creation system functions in various social aspects including politics, economy, and the society at large."

The success possibility of the next-generation design industry will become elevated when designs are improved in conjunction with the future technologies that are commonly known as 6Ts. After all, he said that a corporation's competitiveness starts nothing but from design innovation.