BEDA Unveils MADres Advisory Board and Digital Hub for #impactbydesign
Brussels, 02/09/2025
Press Release – For Immediate Release
BEDA – The Bureau of European Design Associations announces two major milestones for MADres: the launch of its new website – a digital hub for #impactbydesign and the appointment of the Advisory Board. Together, these initiatives strengthen design’s role as a driver of Europe’s sustainable, inclusive, and digitally ethical future.
Advisory Board
The MADres Advisory Board provides strategic direction across the project’s key pillars: Design Policy, Planetary Design, Digital Ethics, and Accessibility. Consisting of leading figures from academia and the design sector, the Advisory Board ensures MADres remains relevant, forward-thinking, and aligned with Europe’s transformation agenda. MADres Advisory Board Members:
- Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive of the Design Business Association (DBA); Former BEDA President
- Antonia Mochan, Deputy Head of Unit at the EU Policy Lab, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
- PhD, Marzia Mortati, Associate Professor of Design at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano
- Isabel Roig, Executive Director of the Barcelona Creativity & Design Foundation, President of the World Design Weeks, Former BEDA President
- Päivi Tahkokallio, CEO of Tahkokallio Design+; Former BEDA President
MADres Website – Europe’s New Hub for #impactbydesign
The MADres website madres.beda.org serves as a central hub for insights, updates, and opportunities. It features entry points to the initiative’s strategic areas, insights into the G42 Expert Group and Advisory Board, an Events Hub, and a forthcoming Publication Repository.
Built to support accessibility standards and available in five languages through AI-driven translation, the platform is designed as a living ecosystem—connecting resources, tools and collaboration across Europe’s design and creative landscape.
Find out more about MADres: madres.beda.org/en
BEDA on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/bedanetwork
Press Contact: Evija Kraukle, evija.kraukle{at}beda.org
About MADres
MADres is a strategic initiative by BEDA and co-funded by the European Union. The initiative advances design as a key enabler of Europe’s transformation for sustainable growth and economic value.
MADres aims to strengthen the European design community and deepen expertise in three focus areas: AI competencies and digital ethics, planetary design and accessibility, and business cases and development. To sustain this, MADres ensures long-term impact by developing a Living Design Policy Framework—a flexible, adaptive model equipping our governments and institutions to integrate design into national and EU-level policy agendas.
About BEDA
BEDA, the Bureau of European Design Associations, is a pan-European advocacy with 51 member organisations in nearly all European countries – representing millions of designers. BEDA speaks for the design community and influences policy development among members and in turn their governments. BEDA champions the role of designers in a business and a social context, promoting all organisations and governments to embrace design methodologies to solve complex problems and to lead innovative practices.
You can find the press release translated into German, French, Spanish and Italian in the media kit, along with the image of the MADres Advisory Board.
Last updated: 09/12/25