The third edition of the acclaimed annual exhibition of life-changing inventions from graduates of the world's leading design and technology universities, Global Grad Show, returns this Dubai Design Week. Curated by renowned author and designer, Brendan McGetrick, 200 innovative projects have been selected from over 470 global entries.
The third edition of the acclaimed annual exhibition of life-changing inventions from graduates of the world's leading design and technology universities, Global Grad Show, returns this Dubai Design Week. Curated by renowned author and designer, Brendan McGetrick, 200 innovative projects have been selected from over 470 global entries.
The show will welcome graduates from 90 universities to Dubai to present forward-thinking prototypes around the themes of empowerment, connection, and sustainability to an expected audience of over 30,000 attendees. Graduates hail from universities far and wide, including leading institutions such as Design Academy Eindhoven (Netherlands), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (USA), Royal College of Art (UK), and National University of Singapore. Further, work from emerging markets rarely seen on a global scale will be on view, including projects from designers based in Iran, Serbia, Uganda, Peru, Malaysia and New Zealand.
McGetrick curated the projects based on his personal interpretation of design that emphasises four categories: innovation that transcends technology and exists independent of wealth; equality without hierarchy amongst universities, regions and designers; universal design open to all types of projects; and impact on the world at large through solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
“We organize Global Grad Show to be a celebration of beautiful ideas,” McGetrick explains. “It is free to attend and features projects that are designed to directly benefit social and environmental causes. By presenting a cross section of design programs from around the world, we try to demonstrate how the brightest young minds are designing the future. The variety of programs offers a unique view to the ways in which designers in different places, with different budgets, cultural contexts, and tools develop solutions to the problems and opportunities of our time.”
Previous projects presented at Global Grad Show have successfully used the platform for global awareness, investment and accolades. For example, the Empathy Bridge project by Heeju Kim won the Core77 Design Award, IDEA, Silver in the student category for 2017 IDEA Award and a Student Notable award in Design for social impact at the iF Talent Design Award. The Empathy Bridge is now a working prototype undergoing beta testing with users. The EcoHelmet by Isis Shiffer won the 2016 James Dyson Award and the prototype has now passed factory and crash testing, bringing it closer to being market ready.