D2B - the 1st International Design Management Summit, Shanghai 2006, marked the culmination of a European Union funded "Asia-Link" project involving eight Academic institutions from Asia and Europe . The project was led by the University of Salford, UK, and the conference hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

More than 150 world-renowned academics and professionals from 15 countries attended the summit. The President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Pro Vice Chancellor of University of Salford were also present. Four parallel tracks of presentation include themes in (i) design education and research, (ii) strategic design�obtaining the competitive advantages, (iii) design and the commercial opportunity, and (iv) innovative design.

Keynote speakers at the summit included:

Prof. Rachel Cooper, Director, Adelphi Research Institute for Creative Arts and Sciences, University of Salford, (UK)
'Can Design Management Step Up To The Mark?'

Professor Patrick Whitney, Director of the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor of Design (USA)
'Business Design'

Professor John Heskett, Hong Kong Politechnic University (Hong Kong)
'Ten Steps to Heaven - Managing Design for Innovation'

Qu, Jianling, General Manager of Shanghai Jahwa (China)
'Enhance the Brand Competitive Advantage through Design Management Innovation'

Frans Joziasse, Director of PARK, Hamburg (Germany)
'Advanced Design Management'

Dr. Thomas Lockwood (DMI), President of the Design Management Institute, DMI (USA)
'Insights Connecting Design And Business'

This successful and high profile event had attracted acclaim from both Industry and academic commentators. Proceedings in Chinese and English were respectively published. You can also find the best papers published as a special issue by DMJ:

http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/publications/academic/articlelist_d.jsp?itemID=AR-V3