As founder and managing director of industrial design consultancy Ideal Industrial, Oliver Kratzer has long promoted the positive impact of design on business.

Kratzer will now bring his design-savvy and industry knowledge to a new role as President of the DIA.

Kratzer is positive about what the Australian design industry is set to face in the new year.

“I think there are bright skies ahead as a new generation of managers and executives emerge with an appreciation and understanding of the role that design can play in business.”

He added that a key factor is the Australian industry emerging relatively unscathed from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

“There is still the waft of GFC hanging around, however Australia escaped relatively lightly in comparison to other countries. Some design disciplines were bruised harder than others, but most are bouncing back.”

The challenge for the design industry next year will be to ensure that the right message is put out to industry and the public, and that the positive role of design is recognised.

Queensland’s Ulysses Transforming Business Through Design Program and Victoria’s Creative Industries Innovation Centre (CIIC) are two examples of Government-led initiatives which, in Katzer’s words, “ensure that design is firmly on people’s radars.”

“It’s about integrating design into business,” he said.

The DIA will continue its work promoting the design in Australia and enabling communication between designers, business, government and the community.

“We have an excellent structure and now is the time to get the machine really humming along,” said Kratzer.

“I see myself as getting in there, empowering people at the grass-roots level, underpinning the strength of the institute and its support of the industry.”

Design Institute of Australia
design.org.au