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Exhibition on Design Opens at WIPO

Geneva, September 26, 2005
Press Releases PR/2005/417

An exhibition spanning 50 years of Italian design featuring items from the prestigious Compasso d'Oro ADI collection was opened this evening by Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Mr. Roberto Cota, Italy's Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Productive Activities. The exhibition, "Flair & Function – 50 Years of the ADI Compasso d'Oro Award," has been organized jointly by WIPO and the Italian Government and seeks to highlight the importance of design in the commercial success of a product.

Opening the exhibition, Dr. Idris thanked the Government of Italy, in particular the Ministry of Productive Activities, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM), the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), and Italy's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva and the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI), for their generosity and cooperation in the organization of this event. He said the exhibition highlighted the "creativity, style and excellence of Italian design." He underlined the importance of design in Italy, saying that it has brought "success, respect and international recognition for the "Made in Italy" label.

Mr. Cota thanked WIPO for its cooperation and said that design signified the "quality of the project, technological innovation, flexibility of enterprises, availability of skills and creative knowledge. A range of knowledge which Italian design possesses, that has been built up over time and constitutes economic wealth." He underlined the importance of intellectual property protection, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) saying, "we are now convinced that innovation and protection are vital also for small and medium-sized enterprises, since they are an essential instrument for the development of the productive fabric in Italy. This is also true of developing countries, where growth is based above all on small and medium-sized enterprises which have greater difficulty in making use of the instruments provided by the intellectual property system."

Mr. Cota said that Italian enterprise was well aware of the advantages of protecting its designs under the WIPO-administered Hague Agreement for the International Registration of Industrial Designs and emphasized that Italy was the fifth largest user of the system (or eight per cent of all applications). He also underlined his Government's strong political commitment to intellectual property and the fight against counterfeit goods. He said "these phenomena put at risk innovation, design and all the investments made to enhance the quality of our products. In that sense, they detract from the desire for innovation in the broadest sense of the term and, for that reason, they have a very negative effect on the competitiveness of the productive systems affected by this phenomenon."

The exhibition features more than 50 objects which exemplify Italian talent and creativity in design across a wide range of sectors. These exhibits have all either received the prestigious ADI Compasso d'Oro Award or been shortlisted for it and now constitute part of the Award's unique Historical Collection. Set up in the early 1950s by famed Milanese designer Gio Ponti, the ADI Compasso d'Oro has become one of the most important and respected awards in this field. Awards are granted by qualified international juries to designs ranging from toys, sports gear, car interiors, furniture and electrical appliances to websites.

This exhibition, which spans the period 1954 to 2004, provides an impressive retrospective of Italian innovation in the field of design, including objects such as Bruno Munari's famous toy monkey (Compasso d'Oro Award 1953), Vico Magistretti's "Eclisse" table lamp (Compasso d'Oro Award 1967) and Giorgetto Guigiaro "Brera" car (Compasso d'Oro Award 2004).

The exhibition, located in the WIPO headquarters building, is open to the public from September 27, 2005 through November 30, 2005 from 9am to 5pm.

For further information please contact the Media Relations and Public Affairs Section at (+ 41 22) 338 81 61, 338 95 47, fax: (+41 22) 338 82 80, E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int.

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