The EU in Serbia is supporting Belgrade Design Week (BDW) which every year gathers the most important professionals from the design industries and turns Belgrade and Serbia into a global centre of design, the Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said at the opening of the 9th BDW.
Praising organisers for bringing every year “the most creative minds of Europe and beyond to Serbia,” Davenport said that the fact that this year the event gathered experts from some 20 countries, most of whom from the European continent, “shows how important the sector of European Culture and Creative Industries is getting.”
“EU estimations are that the sector is responsible for over three percent of the EU’s gross domestic product and jobs, with strong growth potentials. The EU is fully aware of the challenges that the industry is facing and has therefore developed a number of initiatives and programmes to support it and to help it grow,” Davenport said.
“Serbia is already part of the new Creative Europe programme and will hopefully in the future also join the COSME programme which supports innovation and competitiveness of European SMEs,” he added.
Ambassador Davenport in particularly commended “the educational character of this year’s festival, from food to fashion, from strip cartoons to graphic design, Serbian audiences have a chance to learn from the best.”
“I will only mention a few of the international stars coming such as Massimiliano Fuksas, Italy’s famous architect or Zuzanna Skalska, world famous trend analyser and setter,” he said.
International conference Brand New World, the central event of this year’s Belgrade Design Week, will be held from 9-11 October with lecturers from various creative industries, hailing from over 20 countries.
Festival will be accompanied by exhibitions programme BDW DizajnPark, professional workshops BDW DizajnLabs, as well as the already traditional 100% Future Serbia project, aimed at promoting young designers.
