Biennial of industrial design

The Biennial of Industrial Design (known by its Slovene acronym as BIO) is a comparative international design exhibition at which designers, commissioners, manufacturers and students from all over the world present their latest achievements.
The works presented in the BIO exhibition are carefully selected and critically evaluated. The BIO Secretariat, which is the organizer of the Biennial, issues a call for submissions for the exhibition, and the Selection Committee, specially appointed for each Biennial by the BIO Secretariat, chooses the works that will be exhibited. The exhibited products, concepts, and works in product graphics and information design are examined and evaluated by an international jury, who then select the best of these works and present them with awards.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are designers, commissioners, manufacturers, mentors, and students who are involved in the creation of the submitted work, as well as BIO’s partner organizations, provided they have the consent of the author of the project to submit the work.
To be eligible for submission, works must not have been in production, or in the case of design concepts, must not have been conceived, before 1 January 2008.

Works may be submitted in any of the following three groups:

A. Products
B. Product graphics and information design
C. Concepts

A. Product

Designed products and services that were created as the result of a production process. This group includes
products from the entire fi eld of industrial design and also the design of architectural elements and groups,
packaging, services design, and works that were made outside of serial production.

Evaluation Criteria:

· quality of the whole solution,
· functionality,
· innovation,
· durability,
· relevance,
· cost-effectiveness,
· aesthetic harmony.

Priority will be given to works that deal with:
· sustainable development and concern for the environment (reduction of energy consumption, waste reduction),
· anthropometrics,
· ergonomics,
· the judicious use of materials,
· meeting the needs of different user groups.

Works entered in Group A. Products must be in regular production or manufactured in a zero series.

B. Product graphics and information design

Product graphics on products or packaging and information design. Information design encompasses complex comprehensive graphic identities comprising at least fi ve different elements, as well as the broad area of designed information, such as informational, labelling, and directional systems, pictograms, cartographic products, event reconstructions, form sheets, visual presentations of statistical data, instruction manuals, etc.

Evaluation Criteria:

· quality of the whole solution,
· functionality,
· comprehensibility,
· use potential (for comprehensive graphic identities),
· aesthetic harmony.

Priority will be given to works that:
· are intended to meet the needs of different user groups,
· present a particularly effective design for information,
· are able to translate complex groups of data into a simple, clear, and transparent visual language.

Works entered in Group B. Product Graphics and Information Design must have already been realized.

C. Concepts

This group includes design concepts for products and services such as are described under Group A, concepts for product graphics and information design such as are described under Group B, and student works that have been created as part of a study process.

Evaluation Criteria:

· originality,
· innovation,
· relevance,
· the potential for realizing or developing the idea into a product,
· manner of presenting the concept.

Priority will be given to concepts that fit the priority criteria described for Groups A and B.

Works entered in Group C. Concepts must be made as prototypes or three-dimensional models.

Entry Procedure

Entries for BIO 22 will be accepted between 1 February and 12 April 2010.

Entries may be submitted either via the BIO website or by post:

1. Via the website: Works may be entered and the entry fee paid on the website www.bio.si. This entry method is simple, fast and reliable.
2. By post: The BIO entry form, available at www.bio.si, must be completed electronically. Entry forms completed by hand will not be accepted.
A CD with the entry documentation as well as proof of payment of the entry fee (e.g. voucher, postal order,
etc.) must be enclosed with the entry form when sent by post. Entries without the entry fee paid in full will
not be valid.

Only one work may be submitted per entry form except when submitting a series of items, in which case this must be clearly stated in the entry form. The BIO Secretariat must receive all completed entry documentation as well as the entry fee payment by the deadline for entries. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.

The Organizer of the Biennial reserves the right to reassign to the appropriate group any work submitted under the wrong group and to remove any work that does not meet the conditions for participation.

Required Documentaion for Entries

1. The completed entry form.
2. Three digital photographs with a resolution suitable for catalogue publication (JPG format, with the longer side measuring at least 23 cm, resolution 300 dpi at 1 : 1 size).
3. A presentation text (of no more than 500 characters) in either Slovene or English. The text should describe the characteristic features and unique aspects of the work as well as its advantages in comparison with other products of a similar nature.
4. The curriculum vitae of the designer(s) emphasizing previous work and achievements in the design field.

Entry Fees

The entry fee for an individual work in groups A and B is €80. The entry fee for group C is €20. Applicants who have received previous BIO awards and students who are submitting student works are entitled to a 50 percent discount on the entry fee.
The entry fee may be paid either via the website or through bank transfer.

For detailed information on how to pay entry fees please vistit   www.bio.si

Selection of BIO 22 exhibits

Exhibits are chosen by the Selection Comittee which is composed of distinguished experts from various areas of design. The members of the Selection Committee will be announced on the website www.bio.si. The Selection Committee will meet in Ljubljana on 13–14 May 2010. The committee will consider all entries that have been correctly completed and have arrived at the BIO Secretariat by the stated deadline. Applicants will be notifi ed by post about the selection and about the necessary procedures for exhibiting in the Biennial. The selection results are final and may not be disputed. The selection of works for the BIO 22 exhibition is entrusted fully to the Selection Committee. The Organizer of the Biennial is not obliged to provide any explanation about the decisions of the Selection Committee.

Jury

An international jury selects the award-winning works from among those that are exhibited. The members of the jury will be announced on the Biennial website www.bio.si. A representative from the Selection Committee will also take part in the work of the jury and will explain the criteria used in selecting the works in the exhibition. The jury will convene in Ljubljana on 4–5 October 2010. The international jury has the right to exclude from the exhibition any work that does not correspond to the entry materials that served as the basis for the Selection Committee’s decision to include the work in the exhibition.

Awards

BIO Gold Medals
BIO Quality Concept Awards
BIO Honourable Mentions
Award for a Student Work

The exhibition will be from October 7th – November 7th 2010 at  The Architecture Museum of Ljubljana, Fužine Castle Ljubljana, Slovenia

For further information and more details, e.g. delivery and return of design works etc. please visit the BIO website:

www.bio.si