2023 Design Intelligence Award (DIA) is officially launched

On March 12, 2023, the 2023 Design Intelligence Award (DIA) was officially launched, calling for entries from all over the world.

As the first international academy award in the field of industrial design in China, DIA adheres to the core values of "Intelligence of Humanity, Wisdom of Life, Fusion of Tech & Art, Brain of Industry", and with professional operation mode and international evaluation standard, it started a craze of creative resources. In the past seven years, the DIA Committee has collected more than 43,000 design works from 70 countries and regions, and established a cooperative ecological circle with hundreds of design colleges, industry associations, design weeks and other organizations around the world, successfully becoming a renowned industrial design awards.

Before the registration deadline at 24:00 on June 30, 2023, (GMT+8), any design company, design team, in-service designer, independent designer and young designer can sign up for the competition through DIA official website (www.en.di-award.org) and tries to get a reward of up to RMB 1 million from the annual bonus pool of RMB 5 million.

2023 DIA Announcement

1. About DIA

Established in 2015, the Design Intelligence Award (DIA) is an international academic award for design and innovation in China. It is a platform for the evaluation, promotion and cooperation of contemporary innovative design, and an innovative accelerator that turns ideas into realities for future development. DIA returns to the origin of design with human intelligence, advocates the core value of “Intelligence of Humanity, Wisdom of Life, Fusion of Tech & Art, Brain of Industry”, and plays the role of bringing world-wide creativity to an intelligent future.

2. Theme

2023 DIA focuses on the theme of "Design Evolution". The evolutionary history of design is a history of human life, and design exists in continuous evolution. The evolution of design is the evolution of practice in appearance, but the qualitative change in practice is the evolution of values and design thinking system. Design is constantly evolving in the interweaving of technology and concept; From hand-made in the handicraft age to industrial manufacturing in the industrial age, to manufacturing in the information age and intelligent manufacturing in the AI age, the way of design creation is constantly evolving. Design is evolving from meeting basic needs to creating new demands, from independent existence to integrated community. DIA hopes to take the past seven years as a window, and as DIA moves towards the eighth year, it will link global designers to explore "design evolution", and touch the new patterns of design ontology evolution together in the era of rapid social changes and the world of continuous evolution.

3. Awards setting

The Awards are granted to the winners in both the Product Group and Concept Group. Gold Award (2 winners, RMB 1,000,000/winner), Silver Award (8 winners, RMB 200,000/winner) and Bronze Award (10 winners, RMB 100,000/winner) are set for the Product Group; The Future Talents Award (2 winners, RMB 80,000/winner) and the Young Talents Award (8 winners, RMB 30,000/winner) are set for the Concept Group; In addition, the Honorable Mention Award will be granted to about 300 entries selected from the two groups (the actual number of award winners is subject to the appraisal results).

4. Participants

(1) Participants

Both the Product Group and Concept Group are open to original works from individuals, enterprises, universities/colleges and institutions.

(2) Entry requirement

The Product Group is for design of products that have been commercially available for less than 2 years, or unlaunched products for which prototypes or samples can be provided for the Second Evaluation and the Final Evaluation. It is open to all kinds of design works such as product, software, integrated service, etc.

The Concept Group is for design ideas from all industries and sectors. Cross-border innovations are encouraged and there are no limitations in forms. Entries should represent the future trend, and physical prototype or videos that explain the conceptual ideas in details are required for the Second Evaluation and the Final Evaluation this year.

The DIA Committee observes the right to adjust the group and category of entries.

5. Entry categories

The Product Group and the Concept Group fall in the same entry category.

The design works have the characteristics of inclusiveness and cross-domain. Entries of this category are mainly classified according to their core innovation points.

(1) Cultural Innovation

Recognizing and emphasizing culture as the internal driving force behind the idea, DIA looks at the contemporary revival of traditional culture, the design crafting of the idea, the value created both in culture IP and the green sustainable development. This category is open to products and services from the fields of souvenirs and gifts, stationery, packaging, fashion and clothing, tableware, furniture and lighting, social innovation, etc.

(2) Life Wisdom

Recognizing the way people live as a driving force behind the idea, DIA looks at the wisdom intelligence bring to daily life, intelligent approaches to everyday appliances and how they care for vulnerable groups in society. This category is open to products and services from the fields of electronic and digital devices, household appliances, kitchenware and bathroom products, elderly care products, mother and baby products, personal care products, pets supplies, toys and musical instruments, sports and leisure products, disaster prevention and protection products, new technologies and new materials, etc.

(3) Industrial Equipment

Recognizing production as a driving force for the idea, DIA looks at how equipment has been upgraded or transformed, how strategic new industries are emerging and how production systems are optimized for maximum efficiency. This category is open to products and services from the fields of transportation facilities, medical equipment, construction equipment, agriculture and forestry equipment, military equipment, office equipment, mechanical tools, robots, etc.

(4) Digital Economy

Recognizing data intelligence as the driving force behind the idea, DIA looks at the digital transformation and upgrading of industry. This category is open to digital products and services from the fields of smart city, smart mobility, smart business, smart medical care, smart education, smart community, smart culture and tourism, industrial IOT, artificial intelligence and block-chain applications, etc.

6. Registration

(1) How to register

DIA adopts the selection mechanism of direct application and expert nomination. Direct applications will be reviewed in the Preliminary Evaluation. Expert nominations, which have been approved by the DIA Committee, will directly enter the Second Evaluation. To ensure the impartiality, the experts who nominate the entries will not serve as the judges of their nominations. The same entry is not allowed to apply in both the Product Group and Concept Group.

Participants should register/login via the DIA official website (www.en.di-award.org).

(2) Registration period and fees

The registration system has been open from March 12, 2023 and will close on June 30, 2023(24:00, UTC+8). Late submissions cannot be accepted.

No registration fee is charged. The logistic fee, insurance premium, customs duties and other expenses incurred in sending entries should be borne by applicants.

7. Evaluation

(1) Evaluation process

There are three rounds of evaluation, namely, Preliminary Evaluation, Second Evaluation and Final Evaluation. In the Preliminary Evaluation, the images and text descriptions of participants’ design works will be evaluated; in the Second Evaluation, the physical works and video introduction will be evaluated, and the Final Evaluation, the participants is required to participate in the oral defense on site.

(2) Evaluation criteria

In the context of the intelligent manufacturing era, the unique“DIA Evaluation System” includes three layers of criteria: a) The fundamental layer emphasizes the “Principles of Design”, covering evaluation factors such as functionality, aesthetics, technicality, user-experience and sustainability. b) The advanced layer emphasizes the “Direction of Design”, covering evaluation factors such as contribution to humanity, industry and the future. c) The top layer emphasizes the “Impact of Design”, covering evaluation factors such as social influence and exemplary role for the industry.

(3) Jury

DIA invites authoritative experts from all over the world to serve as judges. In order to highlight the cross-border integration of design and strengthen the comprehensiveness of evaluation, experts in other related fields, besides those in the design industry, such as science and technology, commerce and media are also introduced to be DIA judges.

8. Winners’ benefits

(1) Trophy and certificate

Each award winner will receive a trophy and a certificate. The winners whose works are displayed in the annual DIA Exhibition will receive a DIA Exhibition Certificate. The winners whose works are donated to the DIA Committee will receive a DIA Collection Certificate.

(2) Logo usage

All winners are entitled to lifetime free use of the DIA logo on their awarded works.

(3) Industry communication

All winners will be invited to participate in the DIA Award Ceremony and other series of activities, and to have face-to-face exchanges and cooperation with global representatives from various industries such as design, academia, media, and industry. Moreover, they will have the opportunity to be the speakers of “D·WILL” Lectures.

(4) Industrial support

DIA, together with professional industrial comprehensive service organizations and industry experts, sets up the Working Group of Industrial Transformation Service to provide industrial transformation services for DIA entries, including implementation of industrial transformation projects, investment and financing, entrepreneurship empowerment and guidance, product design improvement, marketing promotion, and sci-tech achievement transformation.

(5) Media promotion

DIA, together with more than one hundred of mainstream media, has established a global promotion network covering a variety of industries and channels. Live streaming of DIA events such as DIA Award Ceremony will further enhance the social influence of excellent design.

(6) Exhibitions

All award-winning entries will participate in the annual exhibition and have the opportunity to be displayed in other domestic and overseas exhibitions.

9. Agenda