Australian Design Alliance

01/11/2017

[AdA] AGM held in Sydney on 1 Nov 2017

The AdA AGM was held on November 1, 2017, which saw Dr Brent Jackson, Engineers Australia, step down after his second term as Chair of the AdA Board.

The Board unanimously elected Dave Giles- Kaye, Australian Fashion Council, to the AdA Chair position.

[AdA] Chair Report 2016/17

Dr Brent Jackson addressed the AGM outlining some of the AdA’s achievements during his second term which included the organisation going through a period of transformation to establish independent financial arrangements and moving reporting from calendar to financial year.

Brent also noted that AdA CEO Jo Kellock was joined in her role by Paul van Barneveld, formerly of AGDA, to provide additional support in helping the AdA achieve its strategic objectives. They are currently co-sharing the role.

There were also changes during the period to the AdA Board, with Steve Pozel ADC resigning (Feb 2016) his Directors position and Tamara Winikoff retiring from NAVA (June 2017) also relinquishing her Director position. The Board welcomed BDA representative Chris Knierim as a Director. Brent also noted that there had been a changing of the guard in several leadership positions within the AdA membership base in the last 12 months.

Industry Engagement

Key design sector activities included the IP Event ‘They Stole My Design’ May 2016 at VIVID in Sydney held in conjunction with Good Design Australia and the Authentic Design Alliance.

The ‘Designers on Board’ Training, delivered by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), commenced May 2017 and was held over three half-day workshops at Engineers Australia Training facilities on the topics of Governance, Strategic Plan Implementation/Risk Management and Financial Reporting. The program had 12 participants.

Policy Advocacy

• AdA provided policy support and participated in the following activities;
• Submissions to the PC Inquiry into Australia’s IP Arrangements, attendance at Public Hearings and follow up requests for information (May through to
• Sept 2016) Liaise with Daneta Crump, Freehills and Marina Olsen, Banki Haddock & Fiori to compile submissions.
• Consultation with consultant John Howard who is compiling Australian Innovation System Strategic Plan 2030 on behalf of Federal Govt.
• Chairing of Standards Australia Committee CS092 Clothing Sizes (attendance at meetings and responding to standards review). Appointed to ISO T133 Committee.
• Attendance at Create NSW Workshop 26 June 2017 to develop a creative strategy for NSW.
• Letters of support-Geelong’s bid to be nominated a UNESCO Design City (May 2017) World Design Capital Sydney Bid (Feb 2017), Bond University IP Fashion Research (Dec 2016), QUT Australia Korea Grant application (Aug 2016).
• Attendance at the GDA Design Strategy Forum Sydney (Sept 2016).
• Interviews with Deborah Mills, UTS undertaking Arts Advocacy Research in Australia.
• Consultation and advice to Keo Productions for ABC War on Waste series aired May 2017.
• Advice to PIA on [AdA] position on Inquiry into Australia’s IP arrangements.
• Support and advice to media – Ray Edgar AFR for copyright article (Aug 2016) and Larissa Dubeki for Domain article on replica furniture (March 2017).
• Liaised with Bradley Schott Chair ico-D global policy initiative.
• Attended Victoria’s Creative State Summit June 2017.
• Policy alert -the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training tabling of Inquiry Report into Innovation and Creativity: Workforce for the New Economy (June 2017).
• Met with Melbourne University School of Governance.
• Developed a design policy archive of Australian and OS reports.

Brent closed his presentation by thanking Directors for their ongoing support and looks forward to seeing the AdA fulfil its promise, believing it is now on a sound footing to move forward.

Dave is excited to be taking on the role of Chair for the AdA and working with both Jo and Paul to deliver some key initiatives for the AdA and the Australian Design Industry.