"Embrace‧iSee Taiwan" The 2015 Global Talent Design Festival Has Kicked Off

TAIPEI, TAIWAN--(Marketwired - Sep 15, 2015) - iSee Taiwan Foundation and Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation held a press conference to announce the official launch of the 2015 Global Talent Design Festival. Don Chen, current CEO of iSee Taiwan Foundation; Jeter Her, CEO of Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation; Professor Apex Lin, Project Manager of "2015 Global Talent Design Festival", as well as representatives of five International Design Organizations, including Jan Rajlich Jr. of the Brno Biennale Association(BBA), Wang Chien-jui, of the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP), Kumnam Baik, of the Korea Ensemble of Contemporary Design (KECD), Feng Wen-wei, Secretary-General of the Macau Designers Association (MDA), and Lin Hsin-pao, Deputy CEO of the Taiwan Design Center (TDC) helped kick off the event.

The theme of the "2015 Global Talent Design Festival" co-organized by the two foundations is "Embrace iSee Taiwan". Teachers and students from around the world who are also prize winners in the "2015 Taiwan International Student Design Competition" and representatives of ten International Design Organizations are invited to share their experiences with Taiwan's design sector. From September to November, activities such as VIP Cultural Experience, International Design Forum and Workshop, and iSee Taiwan Design Gala will allow participants to interact with Taiwanese students, helping inject new innovative energy into Taiwan's design sector. These activities aim to present the beauty of Taiwan's culture and establish a position on the world stage for its design sector and new service talents, helping the world to understand Taiwan in more depth.

Representatives of the Ten International Design Organizations have been assigned an important mission this time -- that is to participate in the organizational meeting for the "Taiwan International Student Design Competition Best Design School Ranking" with the hopes of establishing a fair and trustworthy evaluation mechanism so that in the future, Taiwan may be considered a benchmark for art and design schools around the world.

Marketing Taiwan exquisite culture, promoting international exchange, and helping Taiwan's design industry go global
Don Chen, CEO of iSee Taiwan Foundation, said: "iSee Taiwan Foundation uses culture, tourism, and innovation to promote the beauty of Taiwan. The cultural and creative industry in Taiwan has emerged rapidly in recent years. For the "2015 Global Talent Design Festival", we have adopted culture as a foundation, with tourism serving as the vehicle to promote cultural experience tours. It invites design talents from all over the world to Taiwan to share their experiences, while embracing the world so that Taiwan's design strengths can be seen. Activities have also been organized to present the beauty of Taiwan culture and establish a position for Taiwan's youth on the world stage."

"Activities hosted by the festival for these ten International Design Organizations will include cultural experience tours, architectural tours, and Chinese culture tours, with visits to iconic sites in Taiwan, such as the National Palace Museum, Fort San Domingo, and Taipei 101, that showcase the unique cultural beauty of Taiwan. The organizers have also planned an evening function entitled, "iSee Taiwan Design Gala", through which representatives of these International Design Organizations can appreciate the diversity, tolerance, tradition and modernity of Taiwan culture. The intention for the planning of these series of activities is so that the design festival will not simply serve as a mere competition, but may be a chance for the world to truly see Taiwan.

Foster cross-cultural and cross-domain talent, build a global stage for young designers
The vision of Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation is to "Nurture a warmhearted society of humanist devotion and innovative thinking". In recent years, the foundation has launched new service talent programs in a number of colleges to actively foster talent, further promoting the development of exquisite service in Taiwan. As one of the organizers of the 2015 Global Talent Design Festival, the foundation hopes to combine the service concept with the design sector, foster new service talent, and realize the value of service applications.

Jeter Her, CEO of Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation, said: "To strengthen cross-cultural and cross-domain exchanges between different countries, we have organized the International design forum and workshop. In addition to prize-winning talents and representatives from ten international design organizations, we have also invited those students who are taking new service talent courses or from design majors, to spark creative inspiration, to make the world to see the cross-domain and integrative strength of Taiwan, and to realize international exchange and learning through an innovative format."

TISDC has become an international benchmark, achieving a new milestone with around 8000 submissions from as many as 46 countries
Held by the Ministry of Education, TISDC has now entered its eighth year. For this year, it received a record-breaking submission of around 8000 submissions, nearly double last year's amount. It has also attracted the participation of around 800 schools and departments from 46 countries, becoming an iconic Asian design competition. With the support of iSee Taiwan Foundation and Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation, TISDC has expanded its scope to build a "2015 Global Talent Design Festival", and has invited ten IInternational Design Organizations to Taiwan to share their experiences. This gives Taiwan students an opportunity to catch up with global design trends, prepare themselves for working in the industry by building solid foundations, and engage in high quality exchanges.

Professor Apex Lin, Project Manager of the 2015 Global Talent Design Festival, said: "We hope that Taiwanese design students will be able to occupy a position on the world stage by drawing from Taiwan's rich cultural heritage. Through the concepts of 'Embrace iSee Taiwan', we hope to build a better Taiwan and elevate global visibility."

About iSee Taiwan Foundation
http://www.iseetaiwan.org/
Mr. Sayling Wen founded the iSee Taiwan Foundation in 2003. After becoming Chairman in 2008, Ted Wen formalized the vision of the foundation as "becoming an essential portal for the world to see Taiwan" in the three core realms of culture, tourism, and innovation. The dual missions of the iSee Taiwan Foundation are to successfully market Taiwan's unique character and heritage globally and to make the world the target of Taiwan's service market. After taking over as Chairman of the foundation in 2015, Audrey Yang has continued to promote the spirit of loving Taiwan; to focus the world's attention on Taiwan's beautiful spirit; and to illuminate, integrate and promote the culture and friendly nature of places throughout Taiwan with the ultimate goals of encouraging more inbound tourism and boosting demand and opportunities for the domestic service industry.

About Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation
www.saylingwen.org.tw/
Mr. Ted Wen, the incumbent Chairman of the Foundation, has declared three core principles for the Foundation: Education, Innovation, and Care. Pivoted around these core values is his vision to "Nurture a warmhearted society of humanist devotion and innovative thinking." Going forward, the four pillars of the Foundation will be embedding the Chinese culture education in primary and secondary schools, enhancing career skills and teamwork mindset for vocational and college students, promoting lifelong learning in community and advocating service innovation to boost national competitiveness. While Taiwan is on its way toward a sophisticated "Service Economy", the Foundation will also continue to devote every effort to promote the four pillars with the aim to breed new service talents, enhance Taiwan's national competitiveness, and play a key enabling role to Taiwan's transformation.