Asia’s largest design-and-innovation conference, Business of Design Week (BODW) 2025, opened on 3 December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, signalling another milestone in the city’s meetings-incentives-conferences-and-exhibitions (MICE) recovery. Under the theme “Curiosity Provokes Design Innovation”, the three-day summit brings together more than 50 headline speakers and an estimated 6,000 onsite participants from Europe, North America and across Asia-Pacific, with Italy recognised as this year’s partner country.
Conference organiser Hong Kong Design Centre says delegate numbers are tracking 20 per cent above last year, reflecting improved air-lift and simplified entry procedures introduced in 2025—including the expanded visa-free short-term entry scheme for non-local professionals. To accommodate the influx, hotels in Wanchai and Causeway Bay have reported occupancy rates above 90 per cent, while event venues are offering real-time AI interpretation in 10 languages to meet international demand.
![Business of Design Week 2025 opens, drawing thousands of international delegates to Hong Kong]()
Day-one programming focused on “Urban Visions and Mobility Revolution”, featuring keynote addresses by Italian architect Carlo Ratti and former Tesla design director David Imai. Subsequent sessions will explore luxury branding, AI-driven creativity and future mobility concepts—topics of keen interest to multinational companies managing design, R&D and marketing teams in the region.
For corporate travel planners, BODW serves as a bellwether for Hong Kong’s capacity to host large-scale, high-value events. The Tourism Board projects that MICE arrivals will top 1.8 million in 2025—up from 1.42 million last year—generating spill-over benefits for airlines, hotels and professional-services firms. The government is also using the summit to showcase its new “Easy Boundary” information platform, which provides live queue data for land border crossings in English, Putonghua and Italian.
With DesignInspire, the Business of IP Asia Forum and several satellite exhibitions running concurrently, analysts expect the first week of December to inject more than HK$700 million into the local economy. The successful execution of BODW will therefore bolster Hong Kong’s positioning as a “super-connector” for global business and reinforce confidence among companies considering regional meetings or relocation assignments in the city.
Conference organiser Hong Kong Design Centre says delegate numbers are tracking 20 per cent above last year, reflecting improved air-lift and simplified entry procedures introduced in 2025—including the expanded visa-free short-term entry scheme for non-local professionals. To accommodate the influx, hotels in Wanchai and Causeway Bay have reported occupancy rates above 90 per cent, while event venues are offering real-time AI interpretation in 10 languages to meet international demand.
Day-one programming focused on “Urban Visions and Mobility Revolution”, featuring keynote addresses by Italian architect Carlo Ratti and former Tesla design director David Imai. Subsequent sessions will explore luxury branding, AI-driven creativity and future mobility concepts—topics of keen interest to multinational companies managing design, R&D and marketing teams in the region.
For corporate travel planners, BODW serves as a bellwether for Hong Kong’s capacity to host large-scale, high-value events. The Tourism Board projects that MICE arrivals will top 1.8 million in 2025—up from 1.42 million last year—generating spill-over benefits for airlines, hotels and professional-services firms. The government is also using the summit to showcase its new “Easy Boundary” information platform, which provides live queue data for land border crossings in English, Putonghua and Italian.
With DesignInspire, the Business of IP Asia Forum and several satellite exhibitions running concurrently, analysts expect the first week of December to inject more than HK$700 million into the local economy. The successful execution of BODW will therefore bolster Hong Kong’s positioning as a “super-connector” for global business and reinforce confidence among companies considering regional meetings or relocation assignments in the city.
