The first International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress opened in Taipei City yesterday, drawing more than 3,000 designers and experts.
“Our goal is to provide a forum that engages designers and leaders from other sectors, with a shared belief that design can offer new insights about our most pressing global issues, in order to create a world that is balanced, sustainable and inclusive,” said Mark Breitenberg, president of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID).
He said he hoped the three-day congress, organized by the world’s three largest design organizations, would inspire dialogue leading to future actions, political and social commitments and long-term collaboration between design and other spheres of knowledge and practices.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan exemplifies the “transformative power of design” and has embraced design as a force for its economic and social development, he said.
“Made in Taiwan,” which symbolizes the country’s manufacturer role, has been transformed into “Designed in Taiwan,” he said.
International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers president Shashi Caan touted Taiwan’s transformation over the past 100 years.
“We have seen a 100 years of creativity evolve from the craft of making to the art of design,” Caan said.
International Council of Graphic Design Associations president Russell Kennedy called on designers to address the opportunities and challenges of the global community.
The design industry has the potential to “generate income, jobs and export earnings, while at the same time contributing to social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development,” he said.
At the opening ceremony, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said the government had helped local businesses to focus on design, creativity and new marketing models to build an international reputation for products “Designed in Taiwan,” rather than “Made in Taiwan.”
Titled “Design at the Edges,” the forum will include keynote sessions on the themes of economic development, the Internet, biotechnology, urbanism and international migration.
It will also feature interactive design salons, regional reports, professional practice sessions, opportunities for exchange between young designers and an education symposium.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard