Established in 2012, Beirut Design Week is the largest growing design festival in the Middle East & North Africa. Bringing together more than 25,000 visitors at over 150 events in various locations around Beirut, BDW, now in its seventh consecutive year, showcases the best of Lebanese and international design in order to strengthen creative economies and foster entrepreneurship, all within the context of region’s rich cultural heritage. The main goal of the event is to encourage intercultural exchange, design education, social impact, and design entrepreneurship. BDW is initiated and organized by the MENA Design Research Center, a non-profit organization, which focuses on promoting a diverse understanding of design in the region through collaborative multidisciplinary projects and rigorous design research.
In line with its new direction, BDW 2018 will be centered around participatory and co-design approaches. These approaches reflect BDW’s belief that change can be inspired and mobilized through building coalitions and creative collaborations between the design community and various actors, practitioners, and stakeholders in the social and urban spheres. Therefore, BDW aims this year to adopt these approaches throughout the various stages of organization, by opening up its platform for cultivating interdisciplinary designer collaborations with urbanists, academics, programmers, economists, entrepreneurs, makers, businesses, civil society, municipal bodies, non-profit organizations and NGOs, etc…
