Munich, September 10, 2024

• May 10 to 18, 2025 | 14th edition of munich creative business week
• New motto: How to design a vibrant community
• Save the date: mcbw design summit on May 12, 2025

mcbw
Organized by bayern design, munich creative business week (mcbw) is the largest design event in Germany. The premium, multi-faceted agenda of events that will take place for the 14th time from May 10 to 18, 2025 will be geared towards experts and all others interested in design. With a red-hot new motto with reference to society and city-wide contextual and visual presence, mcbw again will transform Munich into the German platform for novel ideas and trends originating in the creative business sector.

New motto
To address one of the most pressing social topics of our time, How to design a vibrant community has been selected as the motto of mcbw 2025. It is an invitation to join the debate about ways to design our world in concert and strengthen togetherness and our communities. Anywhere we look today, we see stronger forces of division than of unification. However, this does not reduce our desire for more communion. On the contrary, we long for togetherness without knowing how to achieve it. We understand that we need to work with and for each other to permeate and overcome the pressing, complex challenges we are facing. To do so, we need to be open-minded and curious, we need mediation and cooperation, humaneness and a community spirit. Together with our partners, we want to determine the extent to which design can act as a tool to overcome boundaries.


The mcbw 2025 motto was developed for program partners and visitors based on the following three focal themes, inviting them to contribute and participate.
 
Opening Minds: design awakens curiosity
How can we as humans, communities, and societies change our behavior in a way that our deep impact on the Earth becomes sustainable? How can we influence our mindsets and trigger acts of learning? The modern worlds in which we live and work are complex and full of contradictions, they cannot be controlled with mere yes/no principles. The answer: To trigger creativity, we need design, communication that invites others to discuss, office environments that foster exchange, gadgets that provide us with background information on other products, apps that influence our daily routines, and much more.

Shaping Togetherness: design makes people cooperate
Every day we notice that diverse groups of people increasingly feel they are distancing themselves from solutions offered in areas such as mobility, communication, and living environments, as well as from each other. This separation is the reason they find it more and more difficult to identify with the solutions or to participate in decision- making processes. How can we ensure that people feel more seen, get involved more actively, and cooperate in a more encompassing manner? How do we manage to bring players, disciplines, and work and living environments together more naturally? The answer: When it comes to integrating diverse stakeholders into community projects or developing and maintaining (sub)cultural identities, design as a visually acting tool often can be more accessible than spoken language. Design plays an integrative role in making boundaries permeable and overcoming them.

Inspiring Empathy: design points out the human factor

While living and working in techno-social environments and systems offers sundry opportunities, it also poses a number of challenges. In view of mechanization, automation, and virtualization, how can we succeed at not only maintaining, but increasing our focus on the human element? How can we as individuals enhance our specific potentials and leverage them in a gainful way? The answer: We must accept technology as an integral part of our lives and shape the transformation deliberately and actively so that the human factor is given its due importance. Design and design thinking help us by ensuring new technologies such as AI are understandable, operable, and appealing for use. Most notably, design and design thinking emphasize the human element and make it visible, thus helping us move our creative intelligence and empathy into focus.

With its own participatory formats that highlight the concept of community and with fascinating interpretations of the new motto by large and small, new and returning program partners, mcbw 2025 will provide answers to the question of how we can shape our future together.

Everybody is invited to contribute and participate! If you wish to host an mcbw event as a partner, please contact the mcbw team at contact@mcbw.de.

Save the date

mcbw design summit
Monday, May 12, 2025, at Munich Urban Colab
one-day conference with the 2025 Creative Explorer and internationally renowned speakers

Munich, June 19, 2024

• May 11 to 19, 2024 | 13^th edition of munich creative business week
• more than 200 events
• close to 190 program partners
• approximately 300 speakers
• mcbw’s own unique formats: Design Summit and festival hub
• inspiring exhibitions, talks, and workshops for professionals and the public interested in design relating to the 2024 motto ,How to co-create with nature'

Nine days of design at its best
Following the motto How to co-create with nature, bayern design organized its 13^th munich creative business week (mcbw). From May 11 to 19, the largest design event in Germany offered an ample program for design professionals and the general public interested in design. Fascinating exhibitions, installations, and debates presented a platform for interdisciplinary dialog on current issues relevant to society to make design tangible in a comprehensive manner.

Turning the city of Munich into one pulsating design festival, the various formats ranging from scientific to playful interpretations of this year's motto provided food for thought and ample opportunity for participants to join in and discuss.

How to co-create with nature – creative explorer
Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri was the second figure of international renown to represent an mcbw motto actively as a creative explorer. In the realm of international architecture, Boeri is seen as a main contributor to the debate on climate change, and his work is exemplary of How to co-create with nature. At the mcbw design summit, Boeri shared crucial input for ideas and presented his vision of future cities connected with nature through rooftop and communal gardens, municipal agriculture, parks, and forests.

mcbw 2024 in figures:
mcbw 2024 was made possible by close to 300 speakers and 190 program partners, more than 200 events including mcbw’s own unique formats and contributions by program partners such as BMW Group, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Goethe-Institut, Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences, Holzrausch, Moormann, Rosenthal, Steelcase, Technical University of Munich (TUM), and the Chambers of Industry and Trade and Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria. Arno Design, BMW Designworks, Ergosign, Fluid, Futurice, Gensler, Kiska, N+P Innovation Design, Schmidhuber, Star, and many other design agencies enriched the program with their open houses, lectures, and workshops concerning the 2024 motto.

Program highlights – a selection
A large number of outstanding events was held throughout the city as part of mcbw 2024. The locations at Kunstareal included a particularly high concentration of highlights.

Once again, mcbw design summit with top-caliber speakers moderated by Leonhard Nima was held at Munich Urban Colab. Stefano Boeri, Daniela Bohlinger (BMW Group), Laura Kiesewetter (Institute for Computational Design and Construction), Tom Kortbeek (Fillip Studios), and Maurizio Montalti (Sqim, Officina Corpuscoli) discussed innovative approaches to design for making nature the center of attention again.

Several excellent approaches and concrete projects are underway to bring humanity closer to co-creating with nature. The key is not to lose courage, even during lengthy processes. Päivi Tahkokallio from Finland, former president of the Bureau of European Design Associations, recommended spending more time in nature because it takes practical experience to make us realize the efficiency of nature and its role as the co-creator that reaches out to humans.

Urbanity and urban planning were clear focal points of the mcbw program this year. At Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences, Schnitzer& organized a symposium on the use of water in architecture, cities, landscapes, and society. In an exhibition, the TUM Bioregional Design Lab showcased locally sourced bio-based materials used in architecture and design such as acoustic panels made from hops and hemp-based insulation. Crisis vs. Crisis was the topic of this year’s international Architecture Matters conference. Participants discussed current challenges and sought solutions for the building sector of the future.

Strong presence of mcbw in public spaces 
Pop-up containers, interactive installations, mcbw designwalk, and a powerful key visual put their stamp on the city for nine days.

BLACKSPACE's interactive installation titled Turning Point revolved around nature and made the mcbw motto tangible. Representing the world’s endangered forests, a 45-year-old scrub pine was given a stage on the green behind Alte Pinakothek and was stylized iconically. With the help of a crank, the installation was brought to life interactively through rotation, light, and sound.

Other attractions included the two mcbw pop-up containers at Königsplatz and Am Pschorr at Viktualienmarkt. The Feierabendziegel (After-Work Bricks) installation presented by Drees & Sommer Brand Experience and EPEA at Königsplatz challenged the disposal of construction materials remaining after buildings have been demolished. Deconstructed beavertail tiles started a new life at mcbw – in the form of a sculptural installation. Visitors were offered these works of art featuring quotations from renowned artists.

The festival headquarters, mcbw hub, was installed at the heart of the city's old sector; the store at Ruffinihaus at Rindermarkt was turned into an information point and an event location used by Frog Capgemini, Munaco Shotbrewer, and other partners. The square in front of Rindermarkt became the home of Fillip Studios' augmented reality installation titled Arabidopsis Symphony, which afforded individualized auditory and visual experiences. Seating areas enhanced with greenery by City Decks invited passers-by to linger.