The Design Xiaoxiang Awards 2025 Achievement Transformation Promotion Event was held in Changsha on January 19, 2026. HNU's faculty and student teams secured one gold award, four bronze awards, and five honorable mention awards in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship category, while HNU was honored with the "Award for Excellence in Organization" for the same category. Three smart products jointly developed by HNU School of Design and enterprises including Keeson Technology Corporation Limited, Changsha FISON Technology Co., Ltd., and Hunan Weida Kaiwu Technology Co., Ltd. received a silver award, a bronze award, and an honorable mention award respectively in the Industrial Design category.
Wang Xuewu, deputy secretary-general of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and director of the Hunan Provincial Coordination Mechanism Office for Supporting College Student Entrepreneurship; Wang Weian, secretary of the CPC Leading Group and director of the Industry and Information Technology Department of Hunan Province; Meng Qi, vice president of the China Industrial Design Association; Zhang Xiaobing, HNU vice president, along with nearly 300 attendees including heads of the Department of Industrial Policy and Regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and relevant provincial departments, as well as representatives from various sectors, participated in this event.
Prof. He Renke from HNU School of Design, serving as the head of the competition's review committee, briefed on the exhibition of achievements of the competition. He provided commentary on the competition entries and delivered a keynote speech titled "Human-centered and Culture-driven Intelligent Design," offering an in-depth analysis of the intrinsic logic of design empowering industries.
The Design Xiaoxiang Awards 2025, themed "Design Empowerment · Innovation and Entrepreneurship," is jointly organized by the Industry and Information Technology Department of Hunan Province, the Hunan Provincial Department of Education, the Department of Science and Technology of Hunan Province, the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance, and the Hunan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security. The competition is hosted by HNU, Lushan Laboratory, Hunan Industrial Design Association, Hunan Tongtian Industrial Design Innovation Center, and Hunan Lushan Chuangxing Entrepreneurship Investment Co., Ltd. Aligned with Hunan's "4×4" modern industrial system development, the competition features two categories: Industrial Design and Innovation & Entrepreneurship. It emphasizes the integration of artificial intelligence and industrial design, attracting 5,106 submissions from 137 enterprises and 181 universities across 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions), setting new records in both the scale and quality of entries.
