Guest panelists included, Andrew Montague, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Michelle Fagan RIAI, PJ Rudden, outgoing President of the IEI and Dr Finbarr Bradley, Smurfit Graduate Business School. Huang's talk focused on future trends and opportunities in design and business in China for Irish designers and business people.
Speaking about issues such as the influence of design-thinking in delivering innovation and economic growth in China, the lessons that can be learned from China’s experience, and how best to influence the Chinese consumer, she said:"Design is the development of ideas through action, a bridge between creativity and Innovation. In China the impact of design on innovation and business thinking is now recognised across the mainstream of development. Irish designers in the way they connect with their clients and come up with imaginative solutions to business issues are perfectly poised to take advantage of the current consumer shifts across education, the environment and the job market in China. The Irish business and design communities understand the importance of coming to grips with the cultural differences between Ireland and China and how to communicate with the developing Chinese markets."
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Joe Costello TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Trade and Development, whose work includes developing markets abroad for Irish produced goods and services, welcomed the PIVOT/RIAI networking event; noting that it is a further indication of the rapidly developing links between Ireland and China and highlighting the interest of our two different cultures in working together and learning from each other. Recalling the award-winning Irish Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo with its theme, 'Better City, Better Life' which explored the changing faces of urban living in Ireland through the ages, and especially the contemporary changes driven by a focus on the efficient use of space and the need for sustainable development, the Minister said that the story of Ireland told through the medium of architecture, design and innovation, is one which resonates strongly in China - a country facing many of the same issues with regard to urban planning, sustainability and green technology.
(CD/GK)
