Istanbul, Turkey was selected unanimously by the International Design Alliance (IDA) Executive Committee to host the 2013 Design Congress.

"Istanbul is a living design lab," says Dr. Alpay Er, Head of the Department of Industrial Product Design at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and leader of the 2013 bid. "The city is experiencing a 'design renaissance' characterised by increasing internationalization, rapid expansion and the diversification of design education. All of this is being built on 19th century roots, when our fine and applied arts schools began to flourish, and an even longer tradition of a 'design gate' as East and West met in Istanbul to trade not only goods, but styles and trends, between civilizations for ages."

The IDA Congress is an event that encourages dialogue between designers and non-design stakeholders in a summit format. The aim is to bring together the unified voice of designers around the world in a themed framework to advance the vision and mission of the IDA by engaging government leaders (commerce, trade, culture, etc.), NGO's, business, science and technology, education and the social sciences (ethnography, sociology, etc.).

The IDA Executive Committee consists of nine representatives from the three international partner organizations: Mark Breitenberg, Icsid President (United States); Russell Kennedy, Icograda President (Australia); Shashi Caan, IFI President (United States); Prof. Soon-In Lee, Icsid President Elect (Korea); Julia Leimei Chiu, Icograda President Elect (Japan); Joe Pettipas, IFI President Elect (Canada); Michelle Berryman, Icsid Board Member (United States); Iva Babaja, Icograda Vice President (Croatia); and Madeline Lester, IFI Past President (Australia).

"With more than 3000 years of history, Istanbul is a crossroads for culture, finance and industry," says Mark Breitenberg, Icsid President. "The IDA Executive Committee was impressed by ITU's lively bid presentation and the weaving of this north/south, east/west intersection into a compelling theme, 'Design Dialects'."

"The Istanbul bid team demonstrated a clear understanding of the IDA Congress objectives through design-based collaboration across and between disciplines," says Russell Kennedy, Icograda President. "Throughout the selection process, they captured our imagination and impressed us with their thinking. Under the banner of the Istanbul Design Alliance, they are aiming to unite not only design practitioners and educators, but also government, key industry players and NGO's to carry this thinking forward."

"It is significant that we will meet in Istanbul," says Shashi Caan, IFI President. "2013 marks the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI)'s 50 anniversary. Through the IDA Congress, we bring our core expertise as a community of design specialists committed to enabling positive transformation by and through design, to an even broader audience."