May 19 2004

NZTE sponsor the Young Designers Awards with $30,000 grant.

Encouraging design excellence in young people is an important part of the government's strategy to instil design as a key business discipline, Minister of Economic Development Jim Anderton said today.

The Young Designers Awards competition has just opened for this year's entries.

"Design is an essential element for the future of New Zealand's industries as they move further and further into producing value-added, high quality niche products and services. That is why New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is supporting the Young Designers Trust with $30,000 for this years awards event" he said.

"The best way to ensure we build a business culture strong on design skills is by encouraging young people to enter the year's Young Designer Awards and recognising their design abilities from an early age. It sends them a key message - design is important."

The Government has recognised the importance of design to the future prosperity of New Zealand and in response to the Design Taskforce's report last year is rolling out national programmes through agencies such as NZTE to help increase the understanding and uptake of design by business.

One of the key issues the taskforce identified was the need to build a supportive design culture in New Zealand through education, both through the secondary and tertiary sectors.

"If we can harness New Zealand's undoubted creative talent to produce better designed products, then we are some of the way towards creating more demand for our exports in foreign markets," Jim Anderton said.

The Young Designers Awards covers a range of disciplines including built environment design, communication, electronics, landscape design, fashion design, product design and visual arts.

The deadline for entries is 31 July, 2004.

ENDS

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