At its heart, design has always been about finding a better way, and improving quality of life. The design process—its focus on the end users and the environment in which they live—can provide a fresh and innovative perspective on the international development agenda.

Now more than ever, industrial design prioritizes accessibility, affordability, reliability, sustainability, respect for the user and the environment. Design for a better world is the very ethos of the upcoming generation of designers, who are placing human needs first, striking the right balance between people, planet and profit. Those industrial designers who solve some of our biggest economic, social and environmental problems will also experience some of the most lucrative growth opportunities.

For 60 years, WDO has been promoting industrial design and its power to improve quality of life. Today, more than ever, there is an imperative for us as the world body for industrial design to amplify the voices of those designers who are bringing a new perspective to some of our planet’s biggest economic, social and environmental challenges. As an international NGO with United Nations consultative status, WDO is aligning its work to the universally accepted SDGs and their respective targets, as impetus for united and concerted action by the some 400,000 designers that we represent, to position design as a catalyst for positive change.

WDO’s World Design Agenda is a framework for action that helps to mobilize our industrial design community around a common set of goals. Using the SDGs as its common language, WDO’s World Design Agenda helps us to align our work across 40 countries and six regions, establish common ground, set new objectives and report on our progress to Design a better world. It enables us to speak as a unified voice when accessing multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations, to promote a design-led perspective on the 2030 development agenda. Find the World Design Agenda here