Chongqing- The integration of industrial design, digital economy, and intelligent manufacturing promoted the digital and intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry, said Liu Ning, President of the China Industrial Design Association, at the China Manufacturing Design Conference in July 28.

A new era of intelligent digital design is emerging as the industrial design industry grows, added Liu. While the industrial design has not been a popular concept in China for some time, the industry has reached a consensus about its significance, which has led to a leap in its development.  

At the Yuelai International Design Forum of the China Manufacturing Design Conference on July 28, guests from the domestic and foreign design industries had a heated discussion over the design innovation ability with the theme of "Design Empowering Intelligent Manufacturing."

Simone Tassi, the general manager of Pininfarina Product Design (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., introduced that the industrial design, digital economy, and industrial Internet have been integrated and penetrated in many fields. Only through industrial design empowering industrial upgrading can it better promote the industrial chain.

Chongqing's characteristics in industrial design

According to the Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission, the current development of the industrial design industry in Chongqing demonstrates three characteristics.

First, the talent system has been continuously improved, taking the lead in establishing a complete professional title evaluation system for industrial design majors in China.

Second, the top-level design has been continuously strengthened, forming an industrial design service system consisting of a municipal headquarters base, district and county sub-centers, professional centers, and supporting resource pools.

Third, the industrial ecosystem has become increasingly comprehensive.

With the introduction of many industrial design professional enterprises and the construction of several agglomeration development platforms, the whole chain of industrial design has been formed in the city.  

Industrial design as a key breakthrough 

"Chongqing has taken industrial design as a key breakthrough in the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry now," said an official from Chongqing Economic and Information Commission.

As an important national modern manufacturing base, Chongqing has the world's largest electronic information industry cluster and China's largest automobile industry cluster. It also has deep industrial accumulation in new materials, equipment manufacturing, and so on, which provides broad application scenarios and market space for industrial design.

Chongqing became one of the first national industrial design characteristic demonstration cities last year, the only one in central and western China. By the end of last year, ten national and 101 municipal and industrial design centers had been built in Chongqing. Another 22 national industrial design centers and a national industrial design research institute had set up branches here. 

Furthermore, coupled with an action plan for Chongqing to create a "city of design," these policies added to the rapid development of Chongqing's industrial design.

(Ge Rongchen, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)