Japan to help India establish its own Good Design award

BY MASAAKI SHOJI CORRESPONDENT

2011/03/08

Businesspeople look at products that have been awarded Japan's Good Design Award at a display in New Delhi. (Masaaki Shoji)

NEW DELHI--The India Design Council said it plans to establish an Indian version of Japan's Good Design Award, created more than 50 years ago, with help from the Japanese government and private sector.

For its part, Tokyo hopes the development will help widen the market for Japan's electrical appliances and other home products in India, where Japanese manufacturers are struggling against competition from South Korean rivals.

From 2007 to 2009, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry supported a similar move in Thailand. Sales subsequently rose in that market, in part due to the Thai government's mention of products that received Japan's Good Design Award.

The Good Design Award was established in 1957 by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the predecessor of METI, to promote exports by evaluating and recognizing products with excellent designs.

The award has been given to industrial products, architectural designs, advertisements and services.

Last year, the female singing group AKB48 was nominated for the grand prize.

In recent years, more than 3,000 entries from 20 countries have been submitted annually for Japan's Good Design Award.