Organized by bayern design, Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) is Germany’s largest design event and a key international platform for Bavaria’s creative and design industries. From May 10 to 18, 2025, Munich Creative Business Week returns with the 14th edition, evolving around the “design community” concept. MCBW once again transforms Munich into a city-wide stage for design innovation and interdisciplinary exchange.
Discover Clerkenwell Design Week
Munich Creative Business Week 2025: how to design a vibrant community
The MCBW 2025 edition evolves around this motto: How to design a vibrant community? How can design help us build stronger, more connected communities? In a world marked by increasing polarization, the desire for togetherness has never been greater. This year’s motto invites participants to explore how design can serve as a powerful tool for fostering connection, empathy, and collective problem-solving.
MCBW 2025’s theme is structured around three key focus areas:
Opening minds: design awakens curiosity
How do we shift mindsets and inspire sustainable behavior in a world full of complexity and contradiction? Design drives learning and transformation — from office spaces that foster creativity to apps that reshape daily habits. Through design, we spark curiosity and catalyze change.
Shaping togetherness: design Enables cooperation
As people grow more detached from traditional systems — in mobility, housing, and communication — the role of design becomes more vital. Design helps bridge divides, invite participation, and foster a sense of shared ownership. It speaks across languages and disciplines, enabling collaboration and cultural expression.
Inspiring empathy: design elevates the human factor
Technology offers great promise, but also challenges our humanity. Through thoughtful application of design and design thinking, we can humanize emerging technologies like AI, making them understandable, accessible, and ethical. Design keeps empathy at the core of progress.
MCBW 2025 also features a rich mix of formats, talks, and showcases, all centered on the power of design to build community. With fresh perspectives from new and returning partners, the event offers inspiring responses to the question of how we can shape a design community.
Discover Design Month Graz 2025
MCBW Design Summit
On May 12, 2025, MCBW hosts its flagship event, the Design Summit, at Munich Urban Colab. The summit runs all day. Internationally renowned speakers pair up to explore key themes as MCBW Creative Explorers. Together, they will examine how design can fuel a dynamic, democratic, and vibrant society.
Shaping togetherness: design sparks cooperation
Ezio Manzini
Ezio Manzini leads DESIS, a global network of design labs. As president, he champions sustainable and social innovation. His work shows how design enables people to collaborate and build solutions together.
Carsten Waldeck
Carsten Waldeck – designer, inventor, and founder of SHIFT – will receive the 2025 German Sustainability Award in two categories: Companies (for consumer electronics) and Products (for the SHIFTphone8). He also supports local initiatives in Hesse, showing how design and entrepreneurship can strengthen communities.
Inspiring empathy: design highlights the human side
Kim Dabbs
Kim Dabbs, author of You Belong Here, speaks globally about empathy and belonging. Born in Korea and raised in the U.S., she uses her life story to promote understanding and social inclusion. Her work shows how design can build a sense of security and value in communities.
Alona Kharchenko
Alona Kharchenko co-founded Devanthro, a Munich-based deep-tech start-up. In 2024, Devanthro became the first company to use humanoid robots in private homes. Early trials showed strong bonds forming between remote caregivers, clients, and the robots—thanks largely to thoughtful design.
Opening minds: design sparks curiosity
Ana Relvão
Ana Relvão tailors her design work to society’s needs. She believes design should fuel curiosity and community life. Her J*GAST kitchen showroom in Munich shows this in action. Developed through collaboration – not authorship – it reflects many voices and viewpoints.
Tim Brown
Tim Brown, former CEO of IDEO, pioneered design thinking. He promoted it as a way to tackle tough challenges and inspire human-centered innovation. His approach shows how curiosity-driven design can shape resilient, creative communities.
For info an ticket for Design Summit, visit the website https://www.mcbw.de/en/design-summit-2025
Why visit
MCBW is the largest Germany’s design event. Moreover, it’s a catalyst for innovation across design, architecture, business, and education. Each year, it brings together companies, creatives, and students for nine days of exchange, insight, and inspiration.
bayern design GmbH, the organizing body, serves as Bavaria’s hub for design knowledge and collaboration. Through various initiatives, it promotes the transformative potential of design in driving sustainable economic and social change, supporting designers, institutions, and stakeholders across sectors.
In 2024, MCBW attracted over 65,000 visitors under the motto “How to Co-Create with Nature.” The success of that edition underscores the event’s growing influence as a space where ideas, innovation, and impact converge.
Munich Creative Business Week, May 10-18, 2025
For professionals and general public
Size: 200 events, 65,000 visitors
Various locations
Visit MCBW.de for info and ticket(s)