The symposium
Former President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ASML Peter Wennink’s report on the Netherlands’ long-term earning capacity forms the basis of the national growth strategy and the coalition agreement. Wennink identifies four areas in which the Netherlands must invest: digitalisation and AI, security and resilience, energy and climate technology and life sciences and biotechnology. The creative industries are absent.
While the Innovation Platform and the Top Sectors policy still regarded the sector as a driver of innovation, it has disappeared from today’s economic debate. Yet the challenges Wennink addresses, from the energy transition to digital sovereignty, demand the imagination and systemic solutions of designers more than ever.
During DDW26 we will bridge the gap between the ‘hard’ economic growth strategy and the innovative power of the creative economy. This raises one central question for the sector itself: do we dare to commit explicitly to the Netherlands’ national growth ambitions?
The programme
Peter Wennink is the keynote speaker. Responding to his analysis are Jeroen Bartelse (director of TivoliVredenburg and chair of Kunsten ’92), Anne Ligtenberg (designer and programme director of Design Development Eindhoven), Mark van Iterson (chair of BNO), Barbara Baarsma (economist), Jeroen Dijsselbloem (Mayor of Eindhoven) and Kiriko Mechanicus (creator of, among other works, Starpower!).
Anna van Nunen (director of Eurosonic Noorderslag) and Willem van Zeeland (director of Dutch Design Foundation) open with an overview of the current state of the design sector.
Moderator: Monique van Dusseldorp.
The symposium will be followed by a networking lunch at the Next Nature Museum at 12.30 hours. Afterwards, you can visit the Dutch Design Week exhibitions individually or in a group.
