The 2025 Better Design Award Ceremony Held in Guangzhou

 广州

Guangzhou

On January 9, the 2025 Better Design Award Ceremony was held in Guangzhou. The event was held under the guidance of China Media Group (CMG), Guangdong Provincial People's Government, Guangzhou Municipal People's Government, Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. It was jointly organized by the China Media Group Guangdong Headquarters and the Organizing Committee of the Better Design Award, and produced by China Media Group Mobile. Wang Sheng, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, and Dong Weimin, Chief Financial Officer of China Media Group, attended the event and delivered speeches. Distinguished guests included Zhang Dingyu, recipient of the national honorary title “People’s Hero,” Wu Shuoxian, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hou Baorong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Thomas Garvey, Senator and Former President of World Design Organization, and Dong Mingzhu, Chair of Gree Electric Appliances.

△ Dong Weimin, Chief Financial Officer of China Media Group

In his speech, Dong Weimin noted that the Better Design Award represents a vivid practice of China Media Group (CMG) and Guangdong Province in implementing the national strategy of building a strong manufacturing country. He emphasized that CMG will continue to leverage its unique strengths in innovation, creativity, visual expression, and international communication. Anchored in the Greater Bay Area, serving the whole country, and connecting with the world, CMG will support Guangdong in unlocking industrial innovation potential and further consolidating the province’s and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area’s position as a global hub for design.

△ Wang Sheng, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province

In his remarks, Wang Sheng stated that the 2025 Better Design Award has showcased a wealth of outstanding works and is steadily growing into an important platform that connects global design intelligence, drives industrial innovation, and deepens cultural exchange. Guangdong will continue to foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, providing comprehensive service support and creating more favorable conditions for investment and development in the province, while working together with partners from all sectors to build a better future.

△ Thomas Garvey, Senator and Former President of World Design Organization

From a global perspective, Thomas Garvey observed that the world is undergoing a period of profound transformation. Design, which connects technology and humanity, tradition and the future, and diverse cultures, has become a strategic tool for addressing systemic challenges. The world needs design solutions from China to help tackle the complex issues facing humanity.

△ Dong Mingzhu, Chair of Gree Electric Appliances

In her keynote speech, Dong Mingzhu remarked that visible design represents beauty, but designers should go beyond form to focus on core design, creating beauty in places that are not immediately seen. She emphasized that “Better Design” requires resilience, perseverance, and innovation, and encouraged young people with dreams, courage, and creativity to continuously challenge themselves, achieve breakthroughs, and contribute to a better China and a better world.

This edition of the Better Design Award focuses on three major transformations in contemporary Chinese design: moving from “manufacturing” to “creation,” extending from “function” to “care,” and evolving from “catching up” to “leading.” The submitted projects serve national strategies, address industrial challenges, and safeguard public well-being. The award ceremony aims to unite shared aspirations for a better life and emotional resonance among contemporary Chinese people, while vividly presenting “Chinese-style life aesthetics” to a global audience. It showcases innovative Chinese design solutions to global challenges such as population aging, green and low-carbon development, and sustainability, conveying cultural confidence and the vision of a shared future for humanity.

The 16-inch naked-eye holographic 3D device, themed around “enabling children in mountainous regions to see the world clearly,” supports seamless switching between 2D and 3D images without the need for special eyewear. It allows students to immerse themselves in a three-dimensional world and can also be applied to assisted medical visualization, transforming advanced technology into an inclusive and compassionate force.

At the ceremony, a chair captured the attention of the entire audience. For modern professionals, time spent sitting on a chair increasingly exceeds time spent in bed, while spinal disorders are becoming more prevalent among younger populations. A well-designed chair is therefore essential for health. A BDA Product Grand Award-winning Dynamic Ergonomic Chair called LiberNovo Omni features a flexible backrest and adaptive holographic-following design that conforms to the natural curvature of the spine and dynamically adjusts support according to body movement. By achieving personalized support for each user, it redefines healthy office experiences.

Another BDA Product Grand Award winner, the W4 Pro Simultaneous Interpretation Headphones, leverage AI computing power to eliminate language barriers, enabling real-time translation across 40 languages and 93 accents. They build a seamless bridge for cross-cultural communication, making interpersonal interaction both respectful and engaging.

The BDA Product Grand Award-winning Passive Lower Limb Exoskeleton uses mechanical assistance to enable rescue workers to move freely across complex terrain, embodying the concept of “empowering those who bear heavy loads and easing the burden for those who move forward.” When Zhang Jiajie, captain of the Dongguan Blue Sky Rescue Team, demonstrated the exoskeleton on stage, it vividly illustrated design’s reverence for life by providing protection for first responders and hope for those in need.

The BDA Concept Grand Award-winning Life-D100 Donor Regional Perfusion Device simulates human circulation, overcoming the limitations of static cold organ preservation and extending the viable preservation time of organs outside the body. It provides precious time for saving critically ill patients. During the award presentation, Zhang Dingyu, China Organ Donation Public Awareness Ambassador noted that this design offers an innovative solution to the scarcity of donated organs and the short “golden window” for transplantation, building a bridge of compassion between life and death.

The award presentation for the Kinetica-1 carrier rocket was both unexpected and heartwarming. After winning the BDA Product Grand Award, Deputy Chief Designer Xiang Zebin took the stage to receive the honor, which was presented by a high school student named Wang Yuning. Wang had independently developed a sounding rocket named Feiyan-1 and presented Xiang Zebin with a hand-drawn illustration and a letter, expressing his dream of becoming “China’s brightest rocket engineer.” Xiang Zebin responded with encouragement, saying, “Stay passionate, and we will meet at the summit.”

The award presenters adopted a “1+1” format, balancing professional expertise with the perspective of everyday users. The presenter lineup brought together academicians, internationally renowned designers, industry leaders, and cross-disciplinary experts, ensuring both professional rigor and thematic resonance, and highlighting the integrated positioning of “Chinese Design with a Global Vision.”

Academician Wu Shuoxian emphasized that outstanding design operates on three levels: improving what already exists, creating value where none existed before, and providing forward-looking leadership for future lifestyles. Academician Hou Baorong stressed that good design must be rooted in people’s livelihoods, enabling engineering to serve society and deliver inclusive value to ordinary households. Design experts including Liu Guanzhong and Ren He highlighted the return of design from object-centered to human-centered thinking, with a focus on real pain points. British industrial design master Michael Young noted that change is the core spirit of industrial design, stating that people-oriented Chinese design combines warmth with strength and deserves global recognition. Olympic champion Zhou Yang, renowned director Yang Yazhou, Peking Opera artist Wang Peiyu, actress Zeng Li, travel bloggers known as the “Traveling Couple,” science communicator Bi Xiaotian, and physics teacher Li Yongle shared diverse perspectives on the humanistic and practical value of design. Zhang Jiajie of the Blue Sky Rescue Team and miner-poet Chen Nianxi shared personal experiences demonstrating how design protects workers and empowers industrial upgrading.

Since the launch of global submissions, the 2025 Better Design Award has received a total of 15,691 entries from 69 countries and regions worldwide. At the ceremony, the most anticipated awards were announced, including 10 BDA Product Grand Awards and 2 BDA Concept Grand Awards. The Product Grand Award winners were the 16-inch naked-eye holographic 3D device, LiberNovo Omni, Slim Soundbar, W4 Pro Simultaneous Interpretation Headphones, Power respiratory protective device, Passive Lower Limb Exoskeleton, scaleX10240 SuperCluster, Tan Suo San Hao Polar Research Vessel, Ocean X Dual-Rotor Floating Offshore Wind Power Platform, Kinetica-1 Carrier Rocket. The BDA Concept Grand Awards were presented to the NeoTile Ultra-thin LED Micro-pitch Smart Display and the Life-D100 Donor Regional Perfusion Device.

In addition, awards including the BDA AI & Robotics Design Awards, BDA Design for Industry Awards, BDA Product Design Awards, and BDA Concept Design Awards were also announced.

Officials from relevant departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, units of China Media Group, provincial and municipal governments across Guangdong, provincial agencies, university leaders, industrial and information technology authorities from Hebei, Shanxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, and Shaanxi, as well as domestic and international design experts, award-winning designers, and business representatives attended the event.

The award ceremony program will be broadcast soon on the CCTV Video App and CCTV-4 (Chinese International Channel). Stay tuned.

Source: China Media Group Mobile