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UK Trade & Investment - Made in China to designed in China

A new taskforce set up by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will meet for the first time today with the aim of helping British designers win business in China.
UK businesses could be competing for a slice of China’s booming design industry potentially worth more than £3billion.
UK Trade & Investment Chief Executive Andrew Cahn said the Chinese economy is developing rapidly. “What we are witnessing is a transformation from “Made in China to Designed in China,” he said.
The 12 member taskforce is made up of British design companies that have already broken into the Chinese market. It will host seminars in China about the strength of UK design and share intelligence with the British design community through direct training and marketing activities. Taskforce members will be participating in conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuxi and Guangzhau from Oct 2007.
“Chinese companies are moving up the value chain and increasingly looking to sell their products and services outside their own domestic market. They’re therefore spending more time and money on creative design, marketing and branding,”
Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive of UKTI, said:
“We’re taking a giant leap forward in showcasing the best of British design in this booming market. The potential market for UK design will develop rapidly as China’s economy moves towards selling more sophisticated products and services into a competitive market place.”
“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.”
“The upcoming Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 Expo in Shanghai will give Chinese companies huge international exposure which they haven’t had to date and they will want to show their best possible image.
“The UK is a world leader in the branding of financial services with real expertise in retail and banking design. The Chinese government is committed to deregulation of the financial services sector offering huge opportunities.
“This will not only give British designers the opportunity to work for global brands entering China, but more importantly, it means that Chinese financial institutions will start competing with global brands – forcing them to use design to stand out.”
The Chinese government’s five year programme, ratified in March 2006, focuses on the creation of a knowledge led, innovation orientated economy supported by greater domestic consumption. In addition, the national programme on cultural development published in September 2006 states that "On the international stage China not only needs strength in economy, science, technology and defence but also cultural strength to be ahead of international competition.”
Martin Darbyshire, CEO of Tangerine and member of the China Design Taskforce said added:
“It is wrong to think of China’s economy to be based on low cost, sub-contract, manufacture. China is evolving quickly into a high tech, high skilled and highly innovative economy."
“It already has the second largest share of science and engineering researchers in the world, and between 2005 and 2010, the country will graduate some three million engineers, nearly nine times the number that will graduate in the United States."
“The country’s remarkable combination of mass, youth and capital provides an additional opportunity to use it as a test market for new products and technologies. All this creates huge opportunities for British designers”
A new report by UK Trade & Investment also published today highlights opportunities for British design in the financial services, manufacturing, leisure and tourism, healthcare and education sectors. You can obtain a copy of this report by contacting Gary Hunt.
Taskforce members include Alloy, CGI (Automotive), Creactive Design, Conran & Partners, Dalziel & Pow, Design Bridge, Geoff Howe Marketing, Industrial Design Consultancy (IDC), Lowey Mann (The Team and Williams Murray Hamm), Quadro, Smallfry and Tangerine.

Email: Gary.Hunt@uktradeinvest.gov.uk