Design is a discipline, and also a verb revealing action and, in that sense, it has been imposing itself as an area of great importance for today's society, with a fundamental role in the creation of new social, political, cultural, and environmental paradigms.

This great event, promoted in collaboration between two municipalities (Porto and Matosinhos), seeks to be a platform for dialogue between civil society, academia, industry, national and international institutions, and cultural agents. With a commitment to the territory and local identities, and valuing manufacturing and materiality, the Porto Design Biennale sets up an exercise in broad-spectrum thinking and involvement, starting from the local context and dynamics to generate speculation and debate on global issues.

The first edition of the Porto Design Biennale mobilised around 50,000 people over 81 days, in a vast programme that included around 300 projects and 60 events. The 2021 edition, held during the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrated the resilience and adaptability of the event, which mobilised hundreds of people around a diverse and creative programme, under the theme of alter-realities and the pertinent title Drawing the Present. The third edition, planned for 2023, promises to remain instigating and challenging, bringing together national and international voices around themes as current as they are ancient and original (in the double sense of the word). Is there a more original and indespensable element to life than Water? This Biennale will be based on this natural material.

The set of exhibitions, conferences, workshops, and publications that are the programmatic structure of the Porto Design Biennale, although concentrated in a limited period of intensive programming, aim to leave a continuous ballast of discussion and thought on Design as a discipline of imminent protagonism and responsibility in collective life and environmental survival.

The theme could not be more dear to our present and, above all, worrying about the future. As a space for celebration, positive affirmation, and transversal expansion of Design (in a society that aims to be inclusive and sustainable), the Porto Design Biennale has the tools (and assumes the commitment) to generate answers to the complex challenges that society faces, working continuously to shape more sustainable, equitable, free and happy futures.

Created in 2014, esad—idea's mission is to conceive, develop and implement solutions through design and interdisciplinary practices that promote cultural, social, and environmental change and improvement.

We consider research to be a fundamental means of scientific, technological, and social innovation; thus, we develop research in the areas of industrial, communication, interior, and urban design, as well as curation, history, and theory of design.

The preeminence of our research in education, culture, community, and industries is consolidated through a vast network of national and international partnerships that include research centres, universities, companies, and municipalities.

esad—idea is located in a multifunctional space at Rua de Brito Capelo in Matosinhos, which besides being the headquarters of the Porto Design Biennale, also functions as a place for conversations, book presentations, workshops, a shop/bookshop, and a cafeteria.