Season’s greet­ings

A unique year lies behind us – a year defined by change and uncer­tain­ty, yet also by exper­i­men­ta­tion and explo­ration. At the onset of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic many indus­tries required prompt assis­tance, includ­ing the design and cre­ative sec­tor. At the same time, this sec­tor was able to demon­strate its abil­i­ty to help busi­ness­es align with the changed frame­work of con­di­tions and it showed ways in which design can dri­ve innovation.

The exten­sive Design helps! dig­i­tal event pro­gram ini­ti­at­ed by bay­ern design in coop­er­a­tion with renowned part­ners has made it eas­i­er for SMEs to weath­er the cri­sis. Diverse dig­i­tal for­mats exem­pli­fy­ing best prac­tices in prod­uct design and out­lin­ing impuls­es, solu­tions, strate­gies, and tools the design indus­try can offer were pre­sent­ed. Top­ics includ­ed the adap­ta­tion of work­spaces and busi­ness premis­es to the new reg­u­la­tions regard­ing dis­tanc­ing and hygiene, the design-based dig­i­ti­za­tion of ser­vices and offer­ings, and the devel­op­ment of new prod­ucts and ideas for intro­duc­tion to the market.

bay­ern design’s web­site also has been expand­ed and now includes new con­tent. In the Knowl­edge tab, vis­i­tors are pro­vid­ed with online and mul­ti­me­dia infor­ma­tion regard­ing design-relat­ed top­ics and exhi­bi­tions. The con­tent is cat­e­go­rized into five seg­ments: Design and Start-ups, Design helps!, Eco Design, Pack­ag­ing Design, and Uni­ver­sal Design. In addi­tion to the exhibits pre­sent­ed at the most recent Fach­Pack trade fair, vis­i­tors can view videos of inter­views with var­i­ous design­ers on the occa­sion of the BrauBe­viale trade fair and a com­pre­hen­sive ret­ro­spec­tive of ten years of uni­ver­sal design in Bavaria.

We at bay­ern design will for­ev­er con­nect 2020 with our grief over the unex­pect­ed pass­ing of Dr. Silke Claus, our man­ag­ing direc­tor, in Sep­tem­ber. Over eleven years Dr. Claus built the cen­ter for design com­pe­tence in Bavaria into a design cen­ter of inter­na­tion­al renown and thus con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to pro­mot­ing the design econ­o­my in the state.

One of Dr. Claus’ biggest achieve­ments is the devel­op­ment of Munich Cre­ative Busi­ness Week (MCBW) into the largest event of its kind in Ger­many. Although this year’s MCBW had to be cut short due to the pan­dem­ic, the event has pros­pered splen­did­ly. In 2021, the tenth edi­tion of MCBW main­ly will be held dig­i­tal­ly. Focus­ing on Shap­ing futures by Design, MCBW 2021 is poised to con­tin­ue posi­tion­ing Bavaria as a top design clus­ter. We hope to wel­come you there – on site or online. The ini­tial agen­da is avail­able now at  MCBW 2021 pro­gram.

We wish you pleas­ant and rest­ful hol­i­days. May you and your loved ones stay healthy and may the New Year bring us all pow­er and inspi­ra­tion for design­ing our future together.