31GA madrid

04.06.2026 General Assembly

The International Council of Design is pleased to announce that the 31 General Assembly (31GA) will be held in 7 November 2026 in Madrid, Spain. The event will be hosted by Iberoamérica Diseña (ID), with whom ICoD has recently established an affiliate relationship — a partnership we are proud to celebrate with this gathering.

The International Council of Design is pleased to announce that the 31 General Assembly (31GA)will be held on 7 November 2026 in tandem with the ICoD Platform Meeting from 5–6 November 2026, in Madrid (Spain). The meetings are organised as part of the Cuarto Foro Iberoamericano de Investigación y Diseño (Fourth Ibero-American Forum on Research and Design), a week of design events taking place across the city of Madrid, and is co-hosted with Iberoamérica Diseña under the theme From the Periphery: Design Beyond the Center.

2026 CALENDAR

Platform Meeting | Thursday 5 – Friday 6 November 2026
Hosted at the Cervantes Institute, Madrid, the Platform Meeting invites practitioners, educators, and researchers to reflect on what design looks like when the center is no longer taken as the natural reference point. Across its four sub-themes of design education, circularity, the value of continuity, and other forms of intelligence, the meeting combines keynotes with discussion-forward formats designed to give the floor to Members. Above all, this Platform Meeting is an opportunity to bring the Iberoamérica Diseña community and ICoD Members together in one room: to meet one another, exchange perspectives, and learn from each other's practices and contexts. The Platform Meeting opens within the Fourth Forum's opening activities at the Cervantes Institute.

31 General Assembly | Saturday 7 November 2026
The ICoD 31GA (open to ICoD Members and invited observers only) will be held at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, a landmark building designed by Francesco Sabatini and recognised as a Cultural Heritage Site (Bien de Interés Cultural, BIC). At the biennial General Assembly, Members consider and vote on policy, elect the next Executive Board, approve the financial statements, and ratify the admission of new Members to the Council.

Iberoamérica Diseña Project Presentations | Tuesday 10 – Thursday 12 November 2026
The Fourth Forum continues with three days of project presentations at the Institute of Architects: design research in schools and universities (10 November), design professionals and companies, including a presentation on the economy of design in Ibero-América (11 November), and research from companies across design sectors, with closing remarks and live Ibero-American music (12 November). All ICoD Members are warmly welcome to attend. Please note that these presentations are conducted in Spanish.

Exhibitions and city events
Throughout the week, exhibitions organised as part of the Foro will be open across Madrid, including Imagine your City (Fine Arts University and Goytisolo Square), Graphic Design in Latin Music (Royal Conservatory of Music), Ibero-American Graphic Design (Institute of Architects), and No Words (Casa del Lector, Matadero), alongside other gatherings within the city.

SAVE THE DATE

In the coming weeks, we will announce the opening of registration to both the General Assemblyand Platform Meeting, as well as the opening of the ICoD Executive Board nomination process. Details of recommended accommodations will also be shared at that time. For now, we hope you will save the dates on your calendars and begin the process of obtaining permissions to attend the General Assembly and other events in November. As soon as registration opens, you will be able to request visa letters and other documents. We are very excited about this Platform Meeting, which asks which forms of knowledge, practices, and realities have always been present, waiting to be recognised. We look forward to telling you more very soon, and we can't wait to welcome you to Madrid.