Regional Contact List
The Hungarian Design Council (HDC) created a database, which collects the architectural and design-related organisations, associations, educational institutions and press organs in Central and Eastern Europe. Available in English and Hungarian, the database comprises the professional organisations of twenty countries: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the successors of the former Soviet and Yugoslav republics. A total of 218 organisations are on the list, which is available to the public on HDC's website.
In addition to presenting design in Hungary and providing an opportunity to find partners, make contacts and have a cultural overview, the collection represents a new, regional approach. As a precursor to this database, the Hungarian Design Council organised a Regional Conference in the autumn of 2004 in Budapest, at which the participants agreed to make this gathering a regular event. The host of next conference, this summer, will be the Polish-Czech border town, Cieszyn.
In addition to the Regional Conferences meant for specialists of the design industry, the continuously expanded database intends to restore those missing links that existed not so long ago, back in the communist era but then dwindled during the mid-90s. The new, public database will enable a wider professional audience as well as students and interested non-professionals to enrich their knowledge and adopt a regional way of thinking that is worthy of the members of the European Union.