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Encouraging Innovation with Design Programme
Costa Rica
The Encouraging Innovation with Design Programme (Programa Incentivar para Innovar con Diseño) was developed by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design at San José in 2009 as one of the goals of the 2007-2010 National Development Plan. The National Development Plan was established to support creative and artistic SMEs with particular focus on responsible design. The programme was launched following a government statement declaring the design industry of national interest and will be evaluated in 2013 for re-structuring. The main objective is to strengthen the Costa Rican design sector and create the cultural, social, ecological, and economic conditions for a more active market with greater focus on exports. The programme is targeted at the local design sector including web, graphic, interior, industrial and fashion design.
The programme was initiated by Giorgiana Penón, together with the team at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MACD). The MADC was founded in 1994, with the intention of being ‘specifically responsible for the collection, conservation, exhibition, research, dissemination and encouragement of both domestic and international visual art with emphasis on the last decades of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, as the history and the expressions in the fields of design graphic, industrial and vernacular among others.’ Over the past few years, the Museum has focused mainly on contemporary art and not design. However, more recently, the Minister of Culture and Youth, María Elena Carballo, has championed the audiovisual and design industries and set the Museum the task of implementing this design initiative. The Encourage Innovation through Design Programme will be directed and carried out by the Museum’s team including the director, the education department, and the communication department. The Ministry of Culture and Youth mainly finances the programme while the different activities are co-financed by the various entities involved. These include the Ministry of Economy, Procomer (promoter of exports), local universities including Veritas and Creativa as well as other organisations depending on the nature of the activity.
The focus on responsible design is part of the national policy ‘Peace with the Nature’ and the topic of design as a cultural industry is part of the policy of innovation for SMEs. This focus on responsible design is the unique aspect of this programme as Costa Rica has a very strong political stand in ecology and responsible design fits within this. Also, according to the Minister of Culture, the design sector is very young and this industry can avoid repeating other countries long development trajectories and simply ‘leap frog’ into responsible design. Similarly the Ministry of Economy has emphasised that Costa Rica has a small local market so needs to think internationally if design SMEs want to grow. Procomer argues that it is important for Costa Rican export SMEs to find niche markets so as to be able to compete and grow and this means competing in quality not quantity and responsible design fits this bill. Following this rationale, design is starting to be seen from a global perspective and as a profession, is heading towards a more ethical approach and therefore responsible design in Costa Rica is emerging as the means to achieve these ends.
The programme brings together different organisations: government ministries, export promoters, local universities and other stakeholders for the purposes of education, promotion, training and research. In this way, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design works as a platform for the organisations involved and member of the design sector in order to achieve the programme’s objectives. A number of activities have been undertaken as part of the programme: research on the GAM (the ‘Gran Área Metropolitana’, which includes the capital city and surrounding areas), training in the form of workshops and conferences for SMEs related to responsible design, promotion including Design Fair Costa Rica 2009, Diseño Neto and the ‘Exhibition Responsible Design’ as well as educational workshops in communities with social innovation designers.
In 2008, the Museum ran a pilot project where around 25 designers participated in two workshops, one about marketing and one relating to entrepreneurship, in order for them to take part in the Contemporary Design Fair. After this pilot project, the Museum worked with the Ministry of Economy, offering throughout 2009, various business lectures on different topics to designers and together organised the Design Fair Costa Rica 2009, Diseño Neto. 94 design SMEs participated in the fair and in selecting these SMEs priority was given to SMEs practising responsible design. The main objective was toposition and promote the design sector as one that provides design services to the rest of Costa Rican businesses. Whereas, the exhibition Responsible Design, was organised to raise awareness of responsible design and local economic, social and environmental benefits that generate good practice in production and consumption by using the space in the MADC as a platform for an experimental laboratory for designers. During the exhibition various workshops were organised with Procomer and AED (an associating focusing on corporate social responsibility) for the designers.
In the short-term the Museum hopes tostrengthen and encourage the economic, ecological, social and cultural scope of the Costa Rican design sector to create a flourishing market with greater focus on exports. In the long-term, the Museum and the Ministry aim to position Costa Rican design in the world with a profile of responsible design, according to the country's image. The design sector is very dynamic nevertheless; certain barriers exist in order to prepare the sector to compete internationally. The Museum has so far worked with around 100 design SMEs, who have attended lectures, workshops or fairs. The programme still has a long way to go but this is why the key factors for the success of the programme are good coordination and dialogue between the organisations involved in order to work together towards the same mission and vision.
For more information:
Telephone: (506) 22577202
Website: www.madc.ac.cr/mambo452/index.php
