Bold approach to national design 'achievable'

New Zealand's bid to create a national design strategy is bold and achievable, says a top international management thinker.

Tom Peters will tonight open Better by Design 2005, a three-day bootcamp in Auckland aimed at improving design and design thinking.

Better by Design advisory board chairman Jeremy Moon said Peters found it "bold" that a country of New Zealand's size was developing such a strategy.

"He sees it as being achievable because New Zealand is so hot internationally and has so much cachet attached to it," Moon said.

Peters, who calls design the "soul" of new enterprise in his latest book, Re-imagine, will be joined by Tim Brown, president of international design consultancy IDEO, in front of an expected audience of 700.

Moon, who is also the chief executive of Icebreaker Clothing, said the conference was stage one of a vision begun three years ago with the Design Taskforce, followed up by last year's launch of Better by Design.

The $12.5 million programme aims to help more local businesses make world-class design their competitive advantage in international markets.

It also hopes to help about 50 companies contribute an extra $500 million a year in export earnings, growing at five times the targeted GDP.

"It's not just design as a process, it's design as a strategy and a way of thinking," said Moon.

"It's a commitment to high-quality, niche international thinking. The in-your-face strategy was created intentionally to bring about positive change.

"I'm looking forward to hearing the reaction and feeling the energy created as a result of these interactions."

Initiatives to be launched at the conference include a design audit and mentoring programme, and design education and funding initiatives for up-and-coming exporters.

Better by Design came out of the Government's Growth and Innovation Framework, which was established to look at ways to deliver long-term sustainable growth.

Other overseas speakers include the founder of top international design consultancy Designworks, Chuck Pelly, the US Design Management Institute president, Earl Powell, and Yrjo Sotomaa, who played a key role in creating the national design strategy for Finland.

Local speakers include directors and designers of Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Macpac, Formway Furniture, Navman and leading creatives and consultants in the design community.