State of Design Festival responds to the Victorian Government’s innovation statement (VIS) which aims to meet the challenges of international competition, an aging population and climate change to ensure a healthy, sustainable, and productive future for all Victorians, while supporting and encouraging further innovation which will drive growth across the Victorian economy.

As Victoria’s peak design event, developed to strengthen community appreciation for design and place Victoria’s design excellence in the international limelight,  State of Design Festival works closely with Design Victoria to promote the event to Victorian designers and SMEs.

As the public face of the Design Victoria Strategy, the annual State of Design Festival provides a launching point for design in Victoria – communicating the many outputs of the design industry, to a broad public and business audience, across the state and overseas.

The Festival seeks to:

• Celebrate and recognise the excellence of Victorian designers;

• Establish collaborative platforms and networks that could improve the competitiveness of the Victorian design sector;

• Access and enhance the body of knowledge on how design is used to deliver social, environmental and economic benefits;

• Build Victoria’s national and international reputation as a centre of design leadership;

• Increase industry and community awareness of the importance of design;

• Generate competitive business focused on design for economic, social and environmental benefits for Victoria;

• Strengthen the broader, non-design focused public’s appreciation of good design.