April 25, 2024
WDO World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 Secretariat“World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 Report” Released
Published the whole picture of the first World Design Assembly held in Japan in 34
years
URL to access the report: https://www.wda2023.tokyo/en
TOKYO, April 25, 2024 —The Japan Institute of Design Promotion, a representative organization of theWDO World Design Assembly 2023 Secretariat, released “World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 Report”.

The World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 (organized by the World
Design Organization) was held from Friday, October 27 to Sunday,
October 29, 2023 under the theme of Design Beyond—Design for aNew World. From 39 nations and regions across the globe, a total of1,171 participants gathered, including design professionals and abroad spectrum of specialists at the forefront in areas such as
ecology, engineering, communication, science, and technology todiscuss new roles and possibilities for design.

This report is an archive that covers all the lectures, researchpresentations, and panel discussions held over three days of theassembly, which was held in Japan for the first time in 34 years.

It also includes a description of the after-talk event held on Friday, March 1, 2024, and a summary ofproceedings by Kazuo Tanaka (CEO, GK Design Group, Inc.), the executive committee chairperson of
the World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023, clarifying the significance of this conference and the roles thatdesign should play in a future society.

World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 Summary of Proceedings (abstract)
Kazuo Tanaka, Executive Committee Chairperson
The World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023, held after over three years of the coronavirus pandemic andhosted by Japan for the first time in 34 years, broadly reflected an extraordinary societal transformation.
With climate change linked to global warming now more apparent than ever, the path to recovery isproving increasingly arduous. Meanwhile, our lives have seen radical transformation with the drastic

advance of a digitized society due to the pandemic, and the dramatic proliferation of AI and an everfurther AGI society have also made us reexamine the value of human existence.
Given this reality, design can no longer be considered as only founded in culture and art (creatingaesthetics and emotion) or focused solely on being conducive to economy and industry (businessdevelopment by means of innovation and solutions). Design today seeks to address social andenvironmental issues (SDGs and Humanism) and lay the foundations for a better tomorrow. This
assembly gathered wisdom from around the globe while conscious of these facts. Consequently, it isalso the case that the conference was difficult to capture using conventional design notions. In the faceof this formidable undertaking, guided by the theme “Design Beyond,” we continually asked, “What candesign do?”< “World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 Report” Overview>
World Design Assembly Tokyo 2023 official website: https://www.wda2023.tokyo/

Pages: 80
Contents: Keynote Speeches, Paper Presentations, Talk Sessions, Interview with Executive
Committee Chairperson, After-talk Event, Summary of Proceedings, Survey for Attendees, etc.
URL to access the report (PDF): https://bit.ly/3y9iNCO

Resources: About World Design Organization (WDO)
World Design Organization (WDO) is an international design organization working toward “Design for aBetter World.” As a special advisory body of the UN Economic and Social Council, WDO embraces theUN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the goal of contributing to their achievement throughdesign. The former body of WDO, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), wasfounded in 1957 with the aim of promoting the importance of industrial design. In 2017, the organization
changed its name to the World Design Organization (WDO). Presently, WDO includes about 215
member organizations, educational institutions, and corporations from about 40 nations and regions.
WDO members from Japan include the Japan Industrial Design Association, Chiba University,
Musashino Art University, Tama Art University, International Design Center NAGOYA Inc., and YAMAHA
Corporation in addition to the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

<Inquiry>
Public Relations Department, Japan Institute of Design Promotion
E-mail: press@jidp.or.jp