Smartest international industry think tank ever

Smartest international industry think tank ever in NZ

Frank Nuovo, the American designer who masterminded and leads Nokia’s multinational design taskforce, is just one of the world’s leading industry innovators to speak at a major business forum in Wellington to be held on June 14.

The forum, Finnish Design 125, is being organised by the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt and supported by Industry New Zealand and Victoria University. Minister for Industry and Regional Development Hon. Jim Anderton, who will open the forum, says, "Finland has built one of the most successful economies in the world by thinking hard about the role design plays in industry and business. That is the focus of this forum. Nokia is the ‘champion’ of their economy, so Frank Nuovo’s comments will be invaluable to New Zealand business leaders.”

Mr Anderton said that incorporating design into business was critical to New Zealand exporters’ international competitiveness.

“The recent release of the ‘Success By Design’ report by the Design Taskforce, highlights to business, the importance of incorporating design into product development.

“Design can enable New Zealand business to develop innovative, client-focused products, and allow our exporters to compete effectively in global markets.” New Zealander Chris Evatt, a who works as a consultant for leading Finnish businesses, will also attend the forum as a guest of Industry New Zealand’s World Class New Zealand programme. He is enthusiastic about the upcoming forum. "New Zealand is in an excellent position to gain valuable lessons from Finland. There has been dialogue between the two countries for a few years and the forum provides the catalyst needed to turn this into action. New Zealand has an enormous amount to gain. But don’t underestimate the value to the Finns either. There’s some real international best practice emerging here in New Zealand through channels like the World Class New Zealand international experts programme.” Other speakers include the highly regarded British design strategist Roy Fleetwood. Fleetwood worked as an associate of architect Sir Norman Foster on the award-winning Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building. His office now provides strategic advice on architecture, design and design management. Fleetwood will speak about designing for industry in Europe and the Far East, and relate this to key issues facing designers working with industry in the 21st century.

New Zealand speakers include:

Phil Capper - Founder, Web Research Richard Cutfield - Executive Director, Pencarrow Investments Peter Haythornthwaite - CEO Creativelab Limited Jeremy Moon - Managing Director, Icebreaker Dame Cheryll Sotheran - Director Creative Industries, Industry New Zealand Brian Sweeney - Director, Sweeney Vesty Limited, co-founder NZ Edge

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