Montreal (Canada) – In its first round of evaluation towards the selection process of the next World Design Capital® (WDC) designated city, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) announced on 6 August 2013 that members of the Selection Committee identified the City of Taipei as the only municipality to move on to the next phase in the process towards becoming the WDC 2016.

The Selection Committee convened on 5 August to discuss the merits of the application brought forward by the City of Taipei with the aim of evaluating its contents against the stringent criteria that awards this designation to a qualifying city on a biennial basis. Having passed the initial scoring, it was decided upon careful consideration that the application would move on to the next phase, which would involve a two-day onsite evaluation.

The site visit will enable further information to be gathered in an attempt to provide the WDC Selection Committee with a more thorough understanding of the proposed programmes, as well as aim to address questions raised during the first round of evaluation.

The 2016 designation will mark the 5th cycle for the WDC programme established by Icsid as a yearlong platform demonstrating the value of design when utilised by cities to empower revitalisation strategies from a social, cultural and economic perspective.

The WDC Selection Committee was not discouraged by the one bid submitted but rather leveraged this opportunity to focus its assessment on the viability of the application. The same rigour will be applied to ensure that the proper evaluation metrics are enforced to determine whether the City of Taipei will meet all criteria.

A comprehensive report on the findings will be compiled by members of Icsid’s WDC Organising Committee and shared with the WDC Selection Committee following the city visit. The final deliberation and official announcement is expected to take place in September 2013.

For more information, please contact:
Mr Eduardo Caldera Petit
Project Manager
t: +1 514 448 4949 ext. 224
e: ecaldera@icsid.org

Ms. Natalie Dutil
Communications Officer
t: +1 514 448 4949 ext. 223
e: ndutil@icsid.org

About the World Design Capital® (WDC)

While there are many awards that recognise individual accomplishments in design, the World Design Capital designation is unique as it aims to focus on the broader essence of design’s impact on urban spaces, economies and citizens. The designation provides a distinctive opportunity for cities to feature their accomplishments in attracting and promoting innovative design, as well as highlight their successes in urban revitalisation strategies. The World Design Capital is an initiative established and managed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. Past cities to hold the designation include Torino (Italy) in 2008, Seoul (South Korea) in 2010 and Helsinki (Finland) in 2102 whilst preparations for Cape Town (South Africa) are underway for 2014.

About the 2016 WDC Selection Committee

The international selection committee for the 2016 designation consists of Prof. Soon-in Lee, Icsid President (South Korea); Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town; Ayse Birsel, Co-founder and Creative Director, Birsel + Seck; Dr. Beatriz Garcia, Head of Research in Cultural Policy & Impact, Institute of Cultural Capital and Senior Research Fellow in Sociology, University of Liverpool; and Jens Martin Skibsted, Creative Director and Founder, KiBiSi / Skibsted Ideation.