The inaugural d&i Awards will take place at the upcoming 2012 Taipei International Cycle Show due to run from March 7 to March 10 inclusive.
On the Taiwan side this will be hosted by TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) and TBEA (Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association). Internationally this event will be run under the auspices of iF International Forum Design GmbH which is also responsible for the Eurobike Awards.
Individuals or companies with products that have been available to the market for either less than two years or will be going into mass production in 2012 (ie. the year of the award), are eligible to enter. The categories are Bicycles, Components, Clothing, and Accessories.
The evaluation criteria cover a very wide range of categories: Level of Innovation, Quality of Design, Choice of Materials, Environmental Impact, Range of Function, Load Capacity, Safety, Universal Design, and Branding. Balancing these objectively implies a disciplined application of specific protocols and it will be interesting to see what eventuates.
With the International Bicycle Design Competition and the Annual Innovative Products Competition, Taipei Cycle has no shortage of fora to display and promote complete product, or component, innovation.
The IBDC is largely focused on concept bicycle design with one-off scale models being produced for designers from design blueprints, and winner’s designs in working versions. The Annual Innovative Products Competition is aimed at promoting Taiwan-based innovation and design.
The D & I awards can be seen to fill an empty space that was crying out to be filled. CSC will be observing this first edition with great interest as well as providing coverage and commentary on the 2012 IBDC and AIPC.
As an aside, children’s bikes are rarely the focus of design innovation even though possession and use of a bicycle during childhood is universal. It would be good to see a greater emphasis on this seemingly neglected dimension of the industry. Perhaps the d&i awards will provide an avenue for such development.