Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU) and member of the jury said: “The key to sustainable consumption is the product itself. Up to 80 percent of the environmental impact of a product depends on its design. However, consumers will only choose the ecological alternative if it is longer lasting, better and more attractive than the conventional product. This takes designers with a wealth of ideas and entrepreneurship, in other words, people such as those who have entered this contest.”
Jury Chair Professor Anna Berkenbusch said: “The diversity of the contest entries never ceases to amaze me – from the simplest of things which make everyday life more environmentally friendly to complex material and services concepts. Shaping societal transformation such as this award seeks to do will be a key task for designers to accomplish, also in the future.”
Roughly 300 entries for the German Federal Ecodesign Award were submitted this year by companies, designers, architects and engineering firms, research centres and higher education institutions. Experts from the German Environment Agency and the Advisory Board short-listed about 130 projects in preparation of the jury meeting. Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze will honour the winners on 25 November during an official award ceremony at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Berlin.
Information about all the nominees is here: https://bundespreis-ecodesign.de/de/wettbewerb/2019/nominierte_2019.html.
All nominees and other submissions considered by the jury are on display to the public at the feldfünf Metropolenhaus in Berlin from 17 to 22 September. A travelling exhibition of all award winning submissions and nominees will make stops at several trade fairs and museums in 2020.
The Federal Environment Ministry and German Environment Agency have awarded the German Federal Ecodesign Award every year since 2012 in the categries "Product", "Service", "Concept" and "Young Talent". The competition is developed and implemented by the International Design Center Berlin.
Jury of the German Federal Ecodesign Award:
- Werner Aisslinger (product designer)
- Prof. Anna Berkenbusch (communications designer, Professor at Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle)
- Andreas Detzel (environmental expert, ifeu ,Heidelberg)
- Prof. Matthias Held (product designer, Professor at HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd)
- Prof. em. Günter Horntrich (product designer, em. Professor of Design and Ecology at the KISD)
- Maria Krautzberger (President, German Environment Agency)
- Dr. Claudia Perren (architect, Director of Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau)
- Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment)
- Prof. Friederike von Wedel-Parlow (fashion designer, Founder of Beneficial Design Institute)
Contact for photo material: E-Mail: presse [at] bundespreis-ecodesign [dot] de
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