On 6 February members of the Australian Design Alliance (AdA), including the Institute, gathered at Government House in Canberra for an event hosted by ADA Patron His Excellency Mr Michael Bryce AM AE.
This event marks three years since the ADA’s launch and signals the organisation’s firm commitment to advocating for a national agenda for design that demonstrates the critical role design and design thinking play as enablers for innovation.
The core objective of the Alliance is to see design-led innovation become an integral part of Australian business and industry and to ensure design is central to Australia’s future economic competitiveness.
There is now undeniable evidence that professional design plays a critical role in the development of internationally competitive products and services. Australia has some of the best designers in the world, capable of developing world-‐class products and services, however, there still remains a lack of understanding of the true benefits of design as a key driver of competitiveness in Australia.
The thirteen peak bodies that make up the AdA represent a substantial constituency. The combined national membership of the member organisations is in excess of 140,000. Including architecture professionals, the design sector is made up of close to 500,000 practitioners.
Speaking at the event, Mr Bryce said, ‘I am proud of the ADA for its determination and survival – three years – not big compared with the history of members of the ADA, but big in its ambition and philosophy … bringing together the design related professional bodies to provide a new vision for an Australia made better by design’.
‘Good design is invisible – good design is how things work better, how things are safer, less wasteful and more beautiful.’
‘The ADA speaks for better cities, more prosperous industry, international competitiveness and a world design reputation.’
Chairman of the AdA, Mr Oliver Kratzer said, ‘A National Design Policy is a necessary step in the evolution of Australia’s manufacturing and service capabilities. Its goals are particularly poignant in a post automobile-manufacturing environment. It is a policy that deserves bi-partisan support. With fresh wind in our political sails, a renewed sense of purpose and energy is driving us forward: we are re-framing the policy, and taking it up the hill.’