Kigge Hvid, CEO of INDEX:, explains, "INDEX:'s mission is to secure high-quality Design to Improve Life internationally. Therefore we inspire, collect, advocate, communicate, evaluate, connect and discuss Design to Improve Life globally.

Created by Denmark, INDEX: Design to Improve Life is in lockstep with tenets that made Danish design powerful in the last century – humanism; social understanding and democratic thinking.

With a wide global network called the Pioneers of Change set across multiple disciplines,  three main tools to reach our objectives are used, namely large scale public events, educational and informative programs, communication & outreach.

"We are perhaps best-known for our biennial presentation of the world's largest award for design," Kigge says, "a 500,000-euro purse divided evenly among winners in five categories and the only one focusing only on design that substantially improves the lives of people.”  

The award is given in five categories; Body, Home, Work, Play and Community.

Among the award, we currently host other projects that include:

INDEX: Award Exhibition: A large-scale world-touring exhibition presenting the finalists of the award, in the five universal categories. The exhibition is presented at a central public square in hosting cities – and always accessible and with free admission to showcase that the world can be improved in many ways through design.

INDEX: Summer Camps and INDEX: AIGA Design Challenges engages design and business students from all over the world in designing to improve life.

INDEX: Outreach: reaches out to students, children, teachers, professionals, companies, public authorities, seniors etc. with services, knowledge and inspiration about Design to Improve Life.

INDEX: Education: is right now in the process of designing the first ever package for teaching Design to Improve Life among primary and lower-secondary pupils and high school students. The web-based format which comprises material for students as well as teachers is to be used within the curriculum of social studies, as the subject matter concerns new processes and methodology and new ways of thinking. After piloting on a business high school, a technical high school and a traditional high school in November the material will be made available for all schools on an open source basis.

INDEX: Communication: is the essential infrastructure to ensure our digital and physical presence is established and disseminated around the world.

“Behind everything we do lies our vision of INDEX:. To leverage the power of design in order to formulate shared understandings of desired futures. This provides horizons of hope. We will use design thinking and design processes to facilitate pathways to a better future for the world, to enhance the public’s understanding of contemporary challenges and to broaden the perception of potential solutions.”

"But INDEX: Design to Improve Life is constantly involved in developing and innovating in educational, business and social settings. We listen, learn, inspire and match our strengths with our main asset – the global network of designers, users, public and private decision-makers. Together we will INDEX: Horizons and bring design thinking and design processes into the mapping of our common progress”

Kigge explains the new strategic direction sets out challenges that focus on investing forward in realizing design and distributing design. “That’s one part of our strategy: to go from awarding backward to investing forward.”

“The other part of our strategy is that we want to be all over the world: partnering with major cities and distributing our presence and realizing Design to Improve Life for the people who really need it.”

Kigge concludes by explaining that the large global network of INDEX: is buoyed on the tidal shift felt by so many today, amid world-sweeping dialogues about climate change, a new emphasis on energy, sustainability, resource protection in a world that can always do better.

Simply put, at INDEX: we ask the best and the brightest on earth to design to improve life – and they do!

Join us!

INDEX:DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE – AT A GLANCE
FOUNDED	August 2002, a non-profit Danish organization under the patronage of HRH The Crown Prince.
INTENT	Inspire design worldwide that responds to the needs of people in societies, both developed and developing.
INDEX: PARTNER CITY	Singapore.
SUPPORT	INDEX: is supported by The Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, JL-Fondet,The Marketing Denmark Fund, The Capital Region of Denmark, The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), The Danish Industry Foundation, Georg Jensen A/S, Royal Copenhagen A/S, Fritz Hansen A/S,Illums Bolighus, The European Social Fund and The European Regional Development Fund.