Victoria and Singapore form design partnership
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2 December 2007
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Victoria’s industrial, manufacturing, civil and visual designers will look to expand into Singapore following the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Victoria and Singapore.
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Victorian Minister for Innovation Gavin Jennings and Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts Dr Balaji Sadasivan signed the MOU during the Singapore Design Festival, which featured the OzMosis Australian design exhibition.
Mr Jennings said both the Singapore and Victorian Governments recognised good design was central to enhancing competitiveness, generating new business products and processes, opening up global trade and investment opportunities and building better communities.
“Victoria’s overall design sector now contributes $4.8 billion to Victoria’s economy, generates nearly $600 million in exports and employs 67,000 people,” Mr Jennings said.
“This MoU calls for a stronger mutual focus on strategic areas such as built environments, industrial design, visual communications and design management and education.”
Mr Jennings said the first initiative to be developed through the MoU will be collaboration on respective design festivals.
“These trade fairs provide an opportunity to showcase Victorian design globally and expose our designers to leading design practice and thinking,” Mr Jennings said.
“This new design partnership will also see Victoria and Singapore working together to research and promote the direct and indirect social, environmental and economic impact of design on economic growth.”
Mr Jennings said the MOU will also:
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• establish exchange and mentoring programs to boost our design capabilities and design-led industries;
• develop links and joint programs between design institutions and our Governments; and
• create an annual Singapore-Victoria Design forum to review these objectives and develop them further.
“This MoU is the latest in a series of initiatives to build up a strong and internationally competitive design sector,” Mr Jennings said.
“It builds on the $15 million Design Victoria Strategy, the first strategy of its kind in Australia and the State of Design Festival, Australia’s premiere design industry event.”
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