March 2021

René Spitz appointed to the board of the iF Design Foundation

On 1 March 2021, René Spitz (Ph.D) joined Christoph Böninger, Fritz Frenkler and Susanne Schmidhuber on the board of the iF Design Foundation.

Among other things, he is the author of the Foundation’s “Whitebook on the Future of Design Education,” which has just been published.

After completing a degree in communication studies, German language and literature, and history in Munich and Cologne, from 1988 to 1991, René Spitz worked alongside Otl Aicher for the company durst – an early formative encounter that introduced him to one of the most significant themes of his life: Design. And here in particular the history and continuing impact of the Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm). He obtained his doctorate on this topic in 1997. From 1998 to 2014, René Spitz was managing director of the rendel & spitz consultancy in Cologne, and from 2004 to 2007, he was chairman of the advisory board of the International Forum for Design (IFG) Ulm. Since 2015, he has been professor of design research and communication management at the Rheinische Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences) Cologne; his research focuses on the HfG Ulm, fundamentals of design, and the social responsibility of designers.

Parallel to his academic and entrepreneurial activities, René Spitz was and is continuously active in the fields of publishing and journalism. He has published many books, essays and columns, and he is a frequent keynote speaker and presenter/lecturer at international conferences. For the German radio station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) alone, he has produced more than 400 reports on design-related subjects.

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