IT Korea, Design Korea

Korea’s IT products are sweeping the world’s prestigious design awards.

This is a change in tide for Korean products because they used to be neglected in the overseas market due to relatively poor design even with excellent performance.

LG Electronics won the gold award in the consumer electronics and telecommunication category of the 2006 iF Design Awards for its AN110, a wall-mounted digital projector, at the world’s largest IT exhibition of the 2006 CeBIT electronics show in Hannover, Germany on March 9.

iF Design Awards, one of the world’s three major industrial design awards along with Germany’s Red Dot Design Awards and the U.S. IDEA Awards, select gold award winners in 12 categories for best product design. This is the first time for a Korean company to win this award since the inauguration of the awards in 2004.

The wall-mounted projector has practically swept the best design awards including winning the “Best of the Best” award at the 2006 Red Dot Design Awards in February.

Korean IT products surprised people in the global IT industry by grabbing about 40 awards among all categories at the 2006 iF Design Awards ceremony.

Samsung Electronics won the record number of awards by winning 25 awards at the iF Design Awards including awards for its “BlueBlack Phone 2” and 40-inch LCD TV.

In the past, Samsung received awards only in the mobile phone and TV categories, but gained a design reputation in diverse categories such as digital camcorders and microwave ovens this year.

LG Electronics won awards in 11 categories including the wall-mounted projector, the PDP TV group for its “Time Machine” and the mobile phone class for its “Chocolate Phone.”

Pantech Co., Ltd. was also honored with two awards for its G-6200, a fingerprint recognition phone, and its “Wide Cube Phone,” a futuristic concept phone.

Other winners include “MPIO Solid” of MP3 manufacturer MPIO and “iNavi UP+” by GPS-Navigation manufacturer Thinkware Systems Corporation, which proved that design capabilities of Korea’s small and medium-sized companies have enhanced as well.

President of LG Electronics Institute of Technology Lee Hee-gook said, “The iF Design Awards are equivalent to the Academy Awards in the IT industry. So, Korea will be acknowledged as an innovative nation for its IT products that can advance people’s lifestyle as well as for its technological prowess.”

The iF Design Awards select winning products every year by a jury comprised of respected designers from across the world, based on 10 criteria including design, materials, innovation, environment-friendliness, functionality, user-friendliness, aesthetic, stability and durability.

A total of 1,952 competing products from 37 countries were submitted and the prize-winning products will be displayed at the special CeBIT exhibition room in Hannover, Germany.

Jae-Young Kim jaykim@donga.com