Business Of Design Week 2026: Asia’s largest annual design summit brings 71 disciplines and 50 global creative leaders to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for six days of cross-cultural dialogue.
Business of Design Week 2026 is arriving in Hong Kong from November 16 to 21, marking the return of Asia’s most comprehensive annual gathering of designers, architects, creative strategists, and brand leaders. The Hong Kong Design Centre is hosting the event with support from the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency as lead sponsor and co-organization from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. What distinguishes this year’s edition is the formal partnership with Switzerland, which steps in as the year-round Partner Country, making 2026 simultaneously the tenth anniversary of strategic collaboration between the Chinese Mainland and Switzerland.
The thematic umbrella, “Design in Dialogue: Connect + Transform,” positions Switzerland’s design heritage as the philosophical anchor for the entire week. Rather than simply importing Swiss aesthetics or showcasing Swiss brands, BODW 2026 is designed around what the country represents: precision craftsmanship, sustainable architecture, brand transformation methodologies, and technology innovation rooted in multilingual, cross-cultural exchange. Hong Kong positions itself here not as a follower of international design trends but as what organizers call a “super connector” and “super value-adder,” a place where local expertise and global resources converge to generate new thinking.
The centerpiece is the BODW 2026 Summit, running November 18 to 20 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Over 50 creative leaders and business decision-makers from Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland, the Czech Republic, Korea, the United States, and beyond will convene around six structured topic pillars: Reimagining Spaces, Regenerative Culture & Curation, Brand Transformation, The New Luxury & Artisanal Innovation, Designing for Longevity & Vitality, and Future-Ready Transmedia & Education. The breadth of disciplines represented spans landscape architecture, urbanism, culture and brand storytelling, industrial and product design, craftsmanship and heritage, luxury retail and interior design, social and longevity innovation, and communication design.
Two Swiss figures anchoring the speaker roster signal the caliber of participation. Wim Walschap, CEO and Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron, brings the architecture studio’s track record on transformative institutional projects. His portfolio includes London’s Tate Modern, Hong Kong’s M+ and Tai Kwun, and a design philosophy that places dialogue at its center. At the Summit, Walschap will explore how contemporary architecture responds to local context through adaptive reuse, commercial transformation, and regional works including the Grand Canal Museum Complex and The Hyundai Gwangju, with emphasis on how design creates lasting public value through community connection. Landscape architect Enzo Enea, known for seamlessly merging outdoor landscapes with interior architecture, is contributing perspective shaped by projects such as Central Crossing, a mixed-use Hong Kong development created in collaboration with Foster + Partners.
The week unfolds across far more than the Summit itself. BODW 2026 encompasses 71 distinct design disciplines, according to the organizing bodies, a range that extends well beyond the typical conference agenda. The event’s six-day span allows for deep-dive workshops, exhibition floors, panel discussions tailored to specific industry sectors, and informal networking moments where the actual business of design gets negotiated. Hong Kong’s position as an international creative capital is central to how the organizers are framing the event: not as an imported conference but as a platform uniquely positioned to unite East and West creative economies.
What often gets overlooked in major design conferences is that the real value emerges from adjacency. Designers working in residential interior spaces encounter industrial product designers; luxury retail specialists brush against social innovation strategists; architects working on cultural institutions exchange ideas with transmedia educators. The explicit six-pillar structure at BODW 2026 suggests that organizers have deliberately orchestrated this cross-pollination rather than letting it happen by accident. Switzerland’s partnership deepens this; Swiss design culture has long thrived on that very principle of cross-disciplinary synthesis, where precision and craftsmanship inform everything from watchmaking to urban planning.
The press conference announcement on September 17 framed the event in terms of how design translates creative concepts into actionable force for both business and societal change. That language suggests BODW 2026 is positioning design not as aesthetic refinement or trend-setting but as a mechanism for solving concrete problems. With over 50 decision-makers from multiple continents in the room, the economic infrastructure exists for those ideas to move from conversation into commission and investment.
What often gets overlooked in major design conferences is that the real value emerges from adjacency. Designers working in residential interior spaces encounter industrial product designers; luxury retail specialists brush against social innovators. Business of Design Week 2026 positions itself as precisely that kind of convergence point, where the mechanics of global creative commerce intersect with the philosophy Switzerland brings as Partner Country.
