UK design companies target Chinese market

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 4, 2007

A 12-member China design taskforce, which represents some of the best in British design, will host seminars and participate in conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuxi and Guangzhau from October 2007.

Midlands-based Creactive Design has been selected by UK Trade and Investment as part of a 12-strong taskforce of British design companies aiming to capitalise on China's flourishing design industry, potentially worth more than GBP 3 billion.

With substantial international experience, particularly in designing rolling stock for companies such as Kawasaki in Japan and KCRC and Itochu in China, Creactive was an obvious choice for the undertaking.

The 12-member China design taskforce, which represents some of the best in British design, will host seminars and participate in conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuxi and Guangzhau from October 2007.

The members will highlight the strength of UK design and ultimately share intelligence with the British design community through direct training and marketing activities.

"This is a great opportunity for Creactive and the British design industry as a whole", commented Creactive Partner, Neil Bates.

"With more than three million engineers due to graduate from Chinese universities between 2005 and 2010 and the potential for new product development that this is bound to generate, we need to be much more proactive about promoting our creative strengths".

"Creactive has already established a collaboration with a Chinese design company, resulting in our designers working with a 20-strong team in Eastern China developing telecommunication designs for the Chinese and Japanese markets".

"It's given us a much greater understanding of the differences between European and Asian design attributes, what Chinese agencies are looking for from European designers and how best to present projects to them".

Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive of UKTI added, "The potential market for UK design will develop rapidly as China's economy moves towards selling more sophisticated products and services into a competitive marketplace".

"The growing middle classes in China have made it possible for brands such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Zara to establish a retail presence which is opening the eyes of Chinese companies to the importance of branding".