Icograda is to stage its biennial World Design Congress in Beijing this October. Speakers include Jan van Toorn, Sol Sender (of the Obama campaign), Troika and Michael Rock of 2x4

The Congress will be hosted by Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA, shown above) and have over 100 speakers over its five days, from October 24. This year's theme will be Xin which, acccording to the organisers means message or letter, but is also, apparently, a popular girl's name menaing beautiful. In any case, Icograda is promising that its Congress will provide "a chance to look at the energy of design, to share design experiences, and to restore our confidence in overcoming the challenges of this difficult period".

The full line-up is:

Keynote speakers:
Jan van Toorn (the Netherlands)
Sol Sender (United States)
Patrick Whitney (United States)
Kohei Sugiura (Japan)

Parallel session speakers:
Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares (Lebanon)
Studio Pip & Co/Andrew Ashton (Australia)
Peter Bankov (Russia)
David Barringer (US)
Ruedi Baur (Switzerland)
Pierre Bernard (France)
Brian Collins (US)
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (US)
Base Design (Belgium)
Kiko Farkas (Brazil)
Peter Hall (US)
Dan Hill (UK)
Zuzana Lednická (Czech)
Laurence Madrelle (France)
Victor Margolin (US)
Achyut Palav (India)
Peet Pienaar (South Africa)
David Pigeon (Australia)
Rick Poynor (UK)
Qiu Zhenzhong (China)
Dexter Sinister/David Reinfurt (US)
Michael Rock (US)
Helmut Schmid (Germany)
David Small (US)
Hilton Tennant (South Africa)
Troika (UK)
Michael Vanderbyl (US)
Yao Dajuin (China, Taiwan)
Yoon Ho Seob (Korea)

For more details, go here