Audi Launches Audi Innovation Award at Dubai Design Week 2016

Audi Middle East used the opening of Dubai Design Week to announce the company’s first design award for the Middle East. The ‘Audi Innovation Award’ will inspire upcoming fashion designers in the region by highlighting innovative design ideas that are likely to shape the future. The award is meant to serve as a motivator for the  design and technology industries in the GCC and Levant regions.

2016 is the fifth year in which Audi is partnering with Dubai Design Days and Audi Middle East is launching this contest at Dubai Design Week to inspire designers in the Middle East to come up with pathbreaking design solutions that demonstrate ‘significant positive change’ based on the theme ‘Alternative’.

The award will recognize outstanding achievement, while at the same time celebrating the exchange of ideas and is a significant investment in the designers of tomorrow in order to create a future family of change makers.

Speaking about the theme for the first Audi Innovation Award, Enrico Atanasio, Director of Audi Middle East said that the company chose to go with the theme ‘Alternative’ as it has a direct link to Audi’s strategy when it comes to ‘Electrification’ and forward thinking. It will also mark Audi’s achievements in the field of alternative energy vehicles. The ‘Alternative’ theme for this year’s Audi Innovation Award is meant to invite designers to integrate existing design solutions into new facets of everyday things as Audi has done in the case of the automobile, by transforming the combustion engine into electrics that  mobility does not have as much impact on our current environment and ecosystem.

He added that Audi is committed to focus even more on minimizing the environmental impact of its cars along the value chain. This is why development of zero-emission drive units in electric cars is as important to the company as the advancement of hydrogen fuel cells. Hence, Audi is working on many related aspects like eco- friendly production methods, integral logistics chains, and a comprehensive

Recycling concept and new non-fossil fuels. Audi has also set up the first pilot plants to capture climate-damaging carbon dioxide and to use surplus wind power in order to produce synthetic gas.

The Audi Innovation Award competition will accept entries from designers who present innovative solutions that improve upon any of 5 key areas of focus: mobility, lifestyle, education, healthcare, and urban public spaces like parks, streets, plazas and their furniture. The entries can be inspired by nature or manmade objects and the winning entry will be one that best integrates these solutions in an exciting manner to have a positive impact on our lifestyle, healthcare, mobility, education or the urban environment in the Middle East. The submission must cover all important aspects like application, lifespan, materiality, durability, and target user. All designs should have a sustainable approach and must demonstrate an environmental awareness.

The Audi Innovation Award was opened on 25^th October 2016 at Dubai Design Week and proposals can be submitted to the Audi Innovation Award website http://audiinnovationaward.com/

Shortlisted candidates will receive USD 2,500 for development of their concept model that will be exhibited at Dubai Design Days in 2017. The designer who wins the Audi Innovation Award will receive a trophy and a trip to the Audi factory in Ingolstadt, Germany to get a first hand experience of automotive design at the Audi headquarters. The winner will also receive USD 25,000 worth of consultancy to cover items like IP registration, legal counselling and business development. Audi will work closely with organizers of Dubai Design Week to provide design advice and mentoring  to the winner so that there is every opportunity for further development.