"Design" Empowering the High-Quality Development of Manufacturing
Industrial design is the starting point of the innovation chain and the source of the value chain.
As manufacturing complexity gradually increases and industrial division of labor becomes more refined, industrial design has been increasingly integrated into all aspects of manufacturing development, serving as a crucial bridge that connects art and technology, coordinates humanities and engineering, and links demand with production.
Industrial design is playing an increasingly important role in enhancing the innovation capabilities and core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry, as well as expanding the space for industrial development.
In response to this major development opportunity, cities across the country are actively taking measures to promote the synchronized resonance between industrial design and urban development. What are Yantai's strategies and considerations regarding industrial design?
Linking the Future, Building a "City of Design"
Yantai's focus on industrial design aligns with the national strategy.
Since 2010, the national government has continuously introduced supporting measures to promote the healthy development of industrial design, establishing a national public service and basic research system for industrial design. By the end of 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had assessed six batches of a total of 415 national-level industrial design centers, covering various industries such as equipment manufacturing, electronic information, and consumer goods. Additionally, five China Excellent Industrial Design Awards have been organized, and six World Industrial Design Conferences have been held.
Today, China's industrial design industry system has gradually improved, with the industry scale expanding year by year, innovation capabilities being significantly enhanced, talent development being continuously strengthened, and design achievements emerging constantly. The development of industrial design in China is showing a positive trend.
Yantai, one of the cradles of modern national industry in China, is the birthplace of the country's first industrialized winemaking enterprise, the first mechanical clock factory, and the first pin-tumbler lock factory, among other pioneering national enterprises. It possesses a profound legacy of "serving the country through industry". The solid industrial foundation is precisely the cornerstone and source of Yantai's industrial design development, contributing to a market scale of hundreds of billions of yuan in the industrial design industry.
In 2021, Yantai became the first city in China to establish an industrial design industry chain. With the goal of becoming a "World Design Capital", it has fully promoted the development of three key initiatives: the National Industrial Design Research Institute, the Industrial Design Town, and the World Design Park. These efforts have significantly enhanced the international recognition of "Yantai Design", aiming to create a leading domestic hub for the design industry.
With industrial design as a driving force, Yantai is promoting the deep integration of the industrial, innovation, and value chains. The Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute, located in the Industrial Design Town within Yantai High-Tech Zone, is the only national industrial design research institute specializing in intelligent manufacturing. The institute integrates and deploys key innovative elements of the industrial design industry chain, offering solutions for industrial upgrading, including end-to-end innovative design, comprehensive brand design, and integrated R&D across the entire industrial chain. It is building an industry ecosystem that empowers all domains and fosters integration and coexistence in the fields of intelligent products, design, and manufacturing. The institute works closely with leading and key enterprises to jointly engage in design and R&D initiatives, continuously supporting the expansion of industrial design services and the upgrading of service models. This efforts injects innovative vitality into the industrial design sector, not only in the city but across the province.
Design Empowering and Enhancing the Quality and Efficiency of Manufacturing
At the forefront of global science and technology and in key areas of national demand, the brilliant presence of "Yantai Design" is always evident.
The Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute actively undertakes key design and R&D tasks in major areas, and has established industrial design innovation platforms, such as the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation Robotics Manufacturing Base and the CRRC Changchun Rail Transit Innovation Design Center. It has undertaken key design and manufacturing projects in major fields, including the overall design and core equipment of the Chinese national team's waxing truck for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the next-generation zero-gravity cabins for CRRC high-speed trains, rocket docking and erection devices, land-ship equipment for CAS Space, military and civilian quadruped robots, bionic humanoid robots, the world's first RFID ultra-low temperature biomedical cabinet at -86°C, a complete set of experimental equipment for State Grid, and experimental satellite hyper-simulation models.
A change in a key design can often result in a significant increase in socio-economic benefits. Taking the new generation of CRRC high-speed train zero-gravity cabins as an example, designers have greatly improved the comfort, privacy, and convenience of VIP seats through the application of industrial design, physiology, psychology, and behavioral science, creating a new "traveling and living" model for passengers. "Without changing the existing car size, we designed the number of seats to increase from 24 to 42. Not only has the railway transport capacity increased, but each additional seat generates a net profit of at least 1 million yuan per year. The additional 18 seats generate a net profit of 18 million yuan per year. Based on the current national train operation volume, this would result in an annual increase of at least 54 billion yuan in railway transport revenue." Huang Junhui, Chief Design Expert in rail transit at the China Industrial Design Association and Director of the Rail Transit Industrial Design Center at the National Industrial Design Research Institute, introduced.
It is evident that with the in-depth advancement of new industrialization, industrial design has demonstrated a significant empowering effect in driving comprehensive innovation and upgrading of Chinese manufacturing, enhancing product competitiveness, and supporting the high-quality development of the economy.
To fully leverage the innovation-driven force and strong chain empowerment effect of design, the Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute has continuously organized design empowerment matchmaking events, training sessions, and lectures, reaching over 500 corporate executives and designers annually, with a cumulative total of more than 3,000 people trained. The institute has successively provided services such as full-process innovative design, full-industry chain integrated R&D and customized production, full-field brand design, first-set R&D and manufacturing, creative consultation, and talent training for companies both inside and outside the city, including Haier Group, Hisense Group, Sanqi Medical, Zhongda Sports, AirRay Optoelectronics, Dongfang Weiston, Chizhou Clock, Hai De Automobile, and Dacheng Food, with a total converted output value exceeding 20 billion yuan.
Building Platforms and Gathering Innovative Resources
Talent is the primary resource for development. To drive the high-quality development of the industrial design industry, the power of talent is indispensable.
Focusing on talent cultivation, Yantai encourages more and more industrial designers to step out of the "ivory tower" through policy guidance and platform construction, ensuring they focus not only on theory but also on practical industry applications and social relevance. In 2019, the Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute, in collaboration with the China Industrial Design Association and over 50 universities and enterprises nationwide, jointly initiated the establishment of the Industrial Design Joint Innovation Institute. The aim is to provide design talents with opportunities for self-innovation and practice that intersect multiple disciplines and closely integrate industry, education, and research.
Over the past three years, the institute's practical training courses have been continuously held in Yantai's Industrial Design Town. More than 200 master's and doctoral students and teachers from over 30 universities, including Peking University, Shandong University, Jiangsu University, Politecnico di Milano, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Jiangnan University, and Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, have focused on the actual needs of enterprises as innovation topics and conducted multiple practical R&D activities in innovative design that span universities, fields, and disciplines, producing fruitful results.
In 2022, the National Designer Big Data Cluster and Creative Capital Information Network Platform "CCB KaBook Network", under the guidance of the China Industrial Design Association and built by the Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute, was officially launched. It fully integrates the platform resources and professional think tanks of the China Industrial Design Association, establishing an intelligent grading system to recognize the capabilities of designers nationwide and providing blockchain-based confirmation services for the rights to designer creative capital. Up to now, the platform has over 55,000 registered designers, more than 60,000 design achievements, and has confirmed the rights to 12,000 items through blockchain technology. It has built a globally leading center for gathering and innovating global design and creative talents, with a comprehensive scope and sound structure.
Organizing the Conference to Attract "Global Wisdom"
The strong industrial foundation is a key support for Yantai's development of industrial design, while its inclusive and open industrial ecosystem provides a favorable environment for the deep integration of industrial chain resources and design innovation elements.
Since 2018, the Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute has continuously gathered outstanding design resources from both domestic and international sources. It has organized events such as the World Industrial Design Conference, the "China Excellent Industrial Design Award", and the "Governor Cup Industrial Design Competition of Shandong" and "Major Cup Industrial Design Competition". The Institute has also facilitated the establishment of domestic and international industry organizations, including the World Design Industry Organization and the Industrial Design Joint Innovation Institute, and has planned and developed industrial hubs like the Industrial Design Town and World Design Park. These initiatives have fostered a citywide culture that emphasizes innovation, creativity, and design, bringing global design expertise to Yantai's enterprises and contributing to Yantai's success in winning the "TIA Innovation City Award" and being recognized as a "National Service-Oriented Manufacturing Demonstration City".
Among them, the World Industrial Design Conference, as the largest industrial design event globally in terms of the number of participating countries and regions, attendees, and exhibition space, has been held in Yantai for four consecutive editions. The conference has hosted over 70 online and offline professional forums, invited 130 keynote speakers from both domestic and international backgrounds, reached a peak of 7.7 million simultaneous online viewers, showcased cutting-edge achievements from 3,089 innovative enterprises worldwide, attracted more than 500,000 on-site visitors, and received high praise and active participation from the global design community. This event is of great significance in promoting international exchanges and cooperation in industrial design.
To date, the research institute has been awarded more than ten honorary titles, including the "National Service-oriented Manufacturing Demonstration Platform", "National High-Tech Enterprise", "Shandong Service-oriented Manufacturing Demonstration Platform", "Shandong Specialized, Refined, Special, and New SMEs", and "Shandong Provincial Industrial Design Center". It has also passed the ISO quality management system certification. Its design works have won over twenty awards, including the "China Excellent Industrial Design Gold Award", "Gold Award of Governor Cup Industrial Design Competition of Shandong", "IF Design Award", "Red Dot Award", "IDEA", "A' Design Award", and "G-Mark".
Looking to the future, the Shandong Industrial Design Research Institute will focus on creating public innovation platforms and transforming innovative design outcomes. Targeting the frontier innovation areas of intelligent manufacturing, it is committed to cultivating and building a national industrial design innovation support platform for intelligent manufacturing, creating original designs, fostering emerging industries, and nurturing innovative talents. With a focus on digital intelligence, it will provide a source of design innovation for the high-quality and sustainable development of China's economy, create new productive forces, revitalize industries, and make the world a better place.
