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Director General of Small, Medium Scale Enterprises and Various Industry (IKMA) at the Industry Ministry, Gati Wibawaningsih. (ANTARA/HO-Industry Ministry)

The Industry Ministry is encouraging small and medium-scale enterprises to design more attractive packaging for their products to improve competitiveness.

“Products sold in the market must be attractive and creative to attract consumers in domestic as well as global markets. This strategic move will also boost national SMEs’ competitiveness," the ministry's director general of Small, Medium Scale Enterprises and Various Industry (IKMA), Gati Wibawaningsih, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic, she said, has caused a shift in lifestyle and forced the public to adapt to new habits. This has, in turn, affected the trend in global product design.

“Product design, till date, has focused on the sustainable aspect in (terms of the) economy, social, and environment (concerns). It has (now) also put forward a health aspect by applying health protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” she pointed out.

It has become a great challenge for industrial product designers to not only produce high-value products, but to also make them attractive and in accordance with the health standards, Wibawaningsih noted.

The ministry is also organizing the Indonesia Good Design Selection (IGDS) 2020, a competition in product design.

“The IGDS is being organized to show our appreciation to companies, industry operators, and designers that have contributed to the development of the national industrial products’ quality, and improved product competitiveness,” she said.

The 17th IGDS will select winners in two categories — design product and design concept.

Registrations for the competition will be accepted until September 30, 2020 through the website:
www.igds.kemenperin.go.id. (ANTARA)