Creativity will be to the fore in the next few weeks as Hong Kong plays host to three international cultural and design conferences.
Dozens of the biggest names in their fields will join officials and politicians from across Asia in what has been dubbed 'Creative November'.
'It looks like a Formula One race,' says John Bowden, former director of the Hong Kong Design Centre. 'It makes Hong Kong look important.'
The first will be the government-sponsored Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum 2004 (Creative Asia), followed by the Design Centre's Business of Design Week 2004 (Lifestyle Asia), and finally the International Herald Tribune's Luxury 2004 (The Lure of Asia).
'As a place, as a people, we need to push design forward,' says Freeman Lau, chairman of the Hong Kong Design Centre's board of directors.
'We have the four key factors: professional designers, government support in the form of the Trade Development Council, a strong educational system and a strong business sector. The result is we are able to host international-level conferences.'
