Game changers

Design leaders renew their commitment to serve as catalysts for public good at Business of Design Week's ongoing edition. Mathew Scott reports.

Mark this down as a sign of our times. Since Business of Design Week (BODW) 2022 rolled out on Wednesday - live at Hong Kong's M+ visual culture museum and across the virtual world - the focus has been on the concept of design as a catalyst for public good.

Perhaps this comes as a result of us all having slowly emerged from periods of pandemic-enforced isolation - times when our thoughts had nowhere else to turn but to our immediate environs and how they help shape our day-to-day existence.

Hence BODW has wisely opted for a theme - "Design for Change" - that hitches itself to the zeitgeist. Accordingly, design leaders taking part in this year's event are focusing as much on the issues facing design as society in general.

Now in its 20th year, BODW has been recognized in the corridors of power. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu tipped his hat to the event's relevance in his 2022 Policy Address, declaring it as "among the globally acclaimed platforms for fostering the development of arts, cultural and creative industries".