Experiments in Experience
Businesses today face the daunting challenge of capturing and maintaining customer engagement amidst a constant barrage of information and advertising, provoking a ferocious competition for the scarcest and most valuable of all resources: customer attention.
To meet this challenge head on, the most innovative companies are experimenting with transformative and memorable experiences that blur the line between the physical and digital worlds to both captivate their users and foster lasting connections.
This year’s Brainstorm Design, held at the MGM COTAI in Macau, brings together a diverse group of designers, visionaries, powerful Fortune 500 executives, technologists, pioneering architects and storytellers to share their insights on how immersive environments and experiential designs are revolutionizing an array of industries, from entertainment and tech to education, hospitality, retail, healthcare, and more.
Now in its fifth year, Brainstorm Design explores the ways in which design and design thinking can contribute to challenges related to climate change and sustainability; diversity and inclusion; ethics; and more. First held in 2018, Brainstorm Design has become a leading international forum at the intersection of design, business and technology.
Agenda
Clay Chandler, Chair, Brainstorm Design; Executive Editor, Asia, FORTUNE
The newly appointed co-CEO of one of the world’s most influential architecture firms unveils Gensler’s influential annual Trends Report for 2025 and shares her vision for leading her global design team for the coming year.
Elizabeth Brink, co-CEO, Gensler
In conversation with Clay Chandler
New technologies and old-fashioned story-telling skills are combining to create one of design’s hottest new fields: immersive experiences. A panel of leading experts in designing experiences explains what defines an immersive experience and details the myriad ways in which the ability to create them can add business value across a multitude of business sectors.
Andrew Lazarow, LAB at Studio Leader, Rockwell Group
Alexandre Simionescu, Founder and CEO, Float4
Ann Morrow Johnson, Global Entertainment Leader, Design Director, Gensler
Moderator: Tony Chambers, Founder, TC & Friends
A leading expert in immersive storytelling explains the role of memory in designing experiences that fully engage the senses and the imagination.
Bob Dennis, Senior Director of Creative Studio & Resort Development, Universal Beijing Resort
Moderator TBA
A legendary Silicon Valley designer explains what distinguishes great design from merely good design and describes how companies can become truly design-driven.
Robert Brunner, Founder & Creative Director, Ammunition; Lead Designer for Beats by Dre
In (virtual) conversation with Clay Chandler
A design executive at Google Ventures highlights key global design trends and shares strategies for driving design excellence from startups to global companies with billions of daily users.
Vanessa Cho, Design Partner, Google Ventures
Moderator TBA
As technology’s impact on society’s health grows, so does the risk of a backlash. A renowned industrial designer shares a vision for designing tech that fosters connection, reduces harm, and aligns with human values—ensuring innovation that enhances, rather than undermines, our quality of life.
Gadi Amit, Founder, President & Principal Designer, NewDealDesign LLC
In conversation with Clay Chandler
A trailblazing artist shares the story of Botto, an autonomous entity whose unique process of creation challenges traditional notions of authorship and redefines the relationship between art, technology and the marketplace.
Mario Klingemann, Artist, Botto
In conversation with Tony Chambers
Design leaders from several of the world’s largest enterprise software providers describe how artificial intelligence is transforming the way companies interact with customers and their own employees—and explain why businesses must work harder than ever to keep things simple and ensure new digital technologies draw customers closer rather than driving them away.
Arin Bhowmick, Chief Design Officer, SAP
Dan Makoski, Former Chief Design Officer, UHG
Greg Petroff, Former Chief Design Officer, Cisco Security
Additional Speakers TBA
Moderator: Gordon Ching, Founder and CEO, Design Executive Council
Speakers TBA
(By Invitation Only)
Chinese shopping malls are being reimagined - with art installations, digital technologies, and new configurations of public and private space – to create a new kind retail space where people meet, connect and shop.
Yong Cui, Founder of Society Particular (SOPA) Architects
Additional Speakers TBA
Moderator: Wang Fang, Executive Editor, Shanghai, Fortune China
The visionary co-founder of an art collective and design studio discuss their interdisciplinary approach to design, drawing inspiration from nature to craft experiences and objects that inspire and challenge.
Alexander Groves, co-Founder, Studio Swine
Moderator: Tony Chambers
A partner and principal at one of the world's leading architecture and interior design practices explains the roles that narrative, culture and context play in crafting timeless designs that foster meaningful human connections.
Tina Norden, Partner & Principal, Conran & Partners
Moderator TBA
The resurgence of Bangkok’s Charoen Krung Road offers a masterclass in how smart design can breathe new life into heritage-rich neighborhoods. Celebrated urban designers, architects, and local cultural leaders will discuss how a thoughtful approach to design can help marry tradition with innovation, foster economic growth and strengthen a city’s cultural identity.
Speakers TBA
A progress report from the founder of the world’s largest network of designers.
Ben Sheppard, co-founder and Chair, Design for Good
Additional Speakers TBA
Moderator: Teman Evans, Global Chief of Design, General Mills
A globally renowned industrial designer explains how the pandemic changed the way we interact with furniture—and why his latest line of sofas and chairs is ‘fat, round, and cuddly.’
Tom Dixon, Founder and Creative Director, Tom Dixon
In conversation with Clay Chandler
The director of urban design at one of the world’s largest architectural firms argues that it is not enough for the built environment to look sustainable through the addition of individual elements such as “green” roofs and walls. Instead, we need a more meaningful and comprehensive approach to the design of our cities that will protect ecological systems and regenerate the environment.
Peter Kindel, Cities and Climate Lead, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
In conversation with Clay Chandler
A pioneer in the fast-growing field of biomimicry explains why, to solve the planet’s most “wicked problems,” we must stop fighting nature and learn to work with it.
Jamie Miller, Director of Biomimicry, SJ Group
In conversation with Nicholas Gordon, Editor, Asia, FORTUNE
Data activist Renée Cummings explains the biases embedded in AI systems and advocates for more ethical frameworks in design to ensure that our technology provides a more accessible future for diverse and underserved communities.
Renée Cummings, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Data Science, University of Virginia
A top strategist from one of the world’s largest commercial design practices explains five ways we’re rebalancing our relationship with technology and shares insights into how we’re coping with radical change in the digital age.
Olof Schybergson, Founder, Fjord; Chief Design and Product Officer, Accenture Song
In conversation with Clay Chandler
Teman Evans, Chief of Global Design, General Mills
Moderator TBA
Two veteran design leaders explain why they left senior roles at US auto giants to join design teams at Chinese automakers and talk about differences in the way US and Chinese firms are designing electric vehicles.
Anthony Lo, Chief Design Officer and VP of Global Design, BAIC Group
Frank Wu, Head of Design, JIYUE Auto
Moderator: Nicholas Gordon
A senior partner with one of the world’s leading management consultancies explains how a design mindset can help prevent new digital technologies from coming between companies and their customers.
Jeff Walters, Senior Partner and Managing Director, BCG
In conversation with Wang Fang
A creative lead at one of the world’s most beloved entertainment and media companies explains how emerging technologies and timeless storytelling techniques converge to redefine the boundaries of design.
Speakers TBA
Venue
MGM COTAI is the latest integrated resort of MGM in China. Designed as the “jewelry box” of Cotai, it offers approximately 1,400 hotel rooms and suites, Asia’s first dynamic theater, meeting space, high end spa, retail offerings and food and beverage outlets as well as the first international Mansion and Emerald Villa at MGM for the ultimate luxury experience. The Spectacle at MGM COTAI became the record holder of the largest free-span gridshell glazed roof (self-supporting) on January 19, 2019, making it the first architectural and structural GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for Macau, China.
Contact Us
For Speaker Inquiries:
To suggest a speaker for the Brainstorm Design, please complete the form at the link below. There are no exact deadlines for speaker submissions.
Please click here to suggest a speaker.
For Participation:
Participation at Brainstorm Design 2024 is by invitation only, and subject to approval. Registration is non-transferable. Participants are responsible for their own travel and hotel charges. The staff for the event will provide information about accommodations.
E-mail: brainstormdesign@fortune.com
For Sponsorship Opportunities:
A limited number of corporate sponsorships are available. Please contact us for more information
Khoon-Fong Ang
E-mail: brainstormdesign.sponsorships@fortune.com
For Press Inquiries:
E-mail: brainstormdesignPR@fortune.com