TAIPEI, , Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2016 Global Talent Design Festival (GTDF) is set to take this year's Taiwan International Student Design Competition (TISDC) to the next level of impact and importance. This second year for the GTDF, sponsored by the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation and the iSee Taiwan Foundation, promises again to showcase and promote the talents of Taiwanese creative art and design students to a worldwide audience.
For the first time ever, the 2016 GTDF will bring together 15 representatives from national and regional design organizations spread across five continents, transforming this year's TISDC into the world's largest international design competition for students. Together, the 2016 GTDF and TISDC are helping Taiwan's design industry shine and showcasing the beauty of Taiwan for a global audience.
15 Renowned Design Organizations Gather to Discover the Beauty of Taiwan
Following the resounding success of their joint promotion of the 2015 TISDC, the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation are expanding the scope of the 2016 GTDF.
The foundations will host 15 representatives from renowned international design organizations, including the Brno Biennale Association, Good Design Australia, INDEX: Design to Improve Life, Japan Institute of Design Promotion, Design Business Chamber Singapore, German Design Council, and others. While in Taiwan, these representatives will join 2016 TISDC finalist judging panels, exchange views with Taiwan academic organizations, and much more.
Starting in October, the 2016 GTDF will sponsor lectures by well-known local and international designers at universities nationwide, arrange various events to introduce Taiwanese culture to international TISDC participants, and help infuse state-of-the-art design perspectives into the domestic design industry.
These activities are intended to achieve the objectives of the two sponsor foundations, which include enhancing Taiwan's position in the international design sector and promoting the inherent beauty of Taiwanese culture and heritage to the world.
The Global Design Spotlight is on Taiwan, with a Record-breaking 14,000 Entries Submitted to the 2016 TISDC
A specific objective of both the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation in sponsoring the TISDC is to get more young people involved in design-related events and activities. This objective is being met this year in the strong increases not only in entry submissions but also in the number of countries/regions that are participating in this year's competition.
Entries submitted to the TISDC grew steadily from 662 in 2008 to 7,984 in 2015. This year will nearly double last year's number, with 14,858 entries already accepted for the 2016 TISDC - an 86% year-on-year increase. This strong response from student designers around the world has made the TISDC the world's largest student design competition.
Moreover, each category of competition (Product Design, Visual Design, and Digital Animation) is seeing a strong boost in entry numbers, underscoring global design trends in favor of digital productions, clarity of message, and distinctive styling.
In terms of national participation, the TISDC has also significantly expanded from the original nine participating countries in 2008 to 69 participating countries this year. In fact, 61% of the entries for the 2016 TISDC originate from outside of Taiwan. This underscores the respect that TISDC now enjoys among design school students and related design organizations worldwide.
As part of efforts to highlight the beauty and design potential of Taiwanese culture, the iSee Taiwan Foundation is sponsoring a special category this year, entitled "New Tableware Era: The Taiwan Cutlery Design Award". This special-category award has attracted 621 submissions from Taiwan, China, Singapore, India, Russia, Israel, and other countries. The iSee Taiwan Foundation is leveraging this award to spotlight Taiwan's unique culinary culture and to further promote the beauty of Taiwan internationally.
About the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation
Mr. Ted Wen, the incumbent Chairman of the foundation, has declared three core principles for the foundation: Education, Innovation, and Care. Pivoted around these core values is his vision to "Nurture a warmhearted society of humanist devotion and innovative thinking." Going forward, the four pillars of the foundation will be embedding the Chinese culture education in primary and secondary schools, enhancing career skills and teamwork mindset for vocational and college students, promoting lifelong learning in community and advocating service innovation to boost national competitiveness. While Taiwan is on its way toward a sophisticated "Service Economy", the foundation will also continue to devote every effort to promote the four pillars with the aim to breed new service talents, enhance Taiwan's national competitiveness, and play a key enabling role to Taiwan's transformation.
About the iSee Taiwan Foundation
The foundation was established by Sayling Wen in 2003. Ted Wen became the Chairman in 2008, and set the Foundation's vision as "becoming an essential portal for the world to see Taiwan" in the three core realms of culture, tourism, and innovation. The dual missions of iSee Taiwan Foundation are to successfully market Taiwan's unique character and heritage globally and to make the world as Taiwan's service market. The foundation focuses on exploring, integrating and promoting the culture and friendly nature of people and places throughout Taiwan, with the goal of creating more opportunities for Taiwan's service industry.
About 2016 Global Talent Design Festival
The iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation continue to support the TISDC in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. This year, their support has expanded to include the 2016 Global Talent Design Festival (GTDF). The festival offers a new and stimulating array of design-related activities, including: 1) The International Masters Joint University Forum, which will invite representatives from major design organizations worldwide to engage Taiwanese design students and faculty in topical, interactive discussions that spotlight and promote Taiwan's service-oriented strengths; 2) The International VIP Cultural Tour program, which will take visiting design professionals who are in Taiwan for the TISDC on in-depth, topical tours of Taiwan society and culture; and 3) The Industry Joint Reception, which will highlight Taiwan's innate elegance and beauty, which are inexhaustible sources of inspiration for the domestic design industry and the bedrock of ongoing efforts to showcase and promote Taiwan's design strengths to a global audience.
