BCN Design Week, organized by BCD Barcelona Design Centre is an international business focused congress framed in the field of design and aimed at those companies and professionals in any industry or productive services that use knowledge and creativity as a driver of its business activity.

Since 2006, this platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences around the world of design annually attracts companies and internationally renowned speakers.  During the five previous editons, the BCN Design Week has been participated by more then 120 renowned experts and up to 4.000 attendees who had the opportunity to learn, share and discuss various topics that mark the current agenda of the design and innovation sector, as Design Management, Co-Creation & Co-design, Design and Social Innovation or Mobile Design, among others.

BCN Design Week 2011

The BCN Design Week 2011 will open its doors from 17 to 21 October to celebrate the sixth edition of an event that is positioned as the main design and business benchmark in Barcelona and one of the leading Design Weeks within the international calendar.

Under the slogan Design 2020, businesses from diverse productive or services sectors, professionals and experts from the world of design and innovation will gather once again in a platform for exchanging experiences, to debate and network, which this year will include new activities in order to extend its scope and open the event to the whole city.

It is worth of mention that the BCN Design Week 2011 will be the clousure of the Barcelona Design Festival, a major event organised by BCD and FAD, in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council, that seeks to place Barcelona as an international design capital. This initiative includes a programme with more than 60 activities, exhibitions, prizes, debates, congress, ideas market or celebrations among others.

Knowledge - Innovation - Opportunities - Progress

This new edition of BCN Design Week focuses on the relationship between knowledge, innovation, opportunities and progress, key concepts of the Europe 2020 strategy, the Innovation Union. Recently approved by the European Commission, this strategic plan includes priority objectives for the medium and short term, such as the jobs creation, transforming ideas into employment, and improvements that affect several areas in today's society and quality of life.

In this context, and on the basis of design as the accelerator of the innovation and activity that is essential for transferring ideas to the market and transforming them into products or services to meet users' demands, the BCN Design Week kicks off with two days of conferences at Design Congress 2020 with the aim of raising awareness and reinforcing the vital importance of this discipline as a competitive factor for companies, as well as for public services.

In addition to Design Congress 2020, BCN Design Week 2011 has a programme of activities including conferences, workshops, debates, prize awards, the EcoDesign Day, networking activities and an open day for participants to visit the design studios.

Once again, BCN Design Week will feature internationally renowned speakers who will talk about the relationship between innovation, design and competitiveness from the perspective of the design of experiences or design applied to mobile handsets, spatial interfaces, ecological design and sustainability, and the importance of design management for internationalisation.

Through the participation of professionals from companies such as Vodafone, Microsoft, Oblong, Nokia, Smart Design, Exipple, Design Connect and ioresearch, attendees can meet and share initiatives, projects, experiences and key trends while exploring new business opportunities through design.

We hope to see you there!