VISA EU AND THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART LAUNCH CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE IN THE UK

Pan-European card design competition helps UK students initiate their career

London, 9 June 2004

Visa EU has today launched Creative Intelligence, a card design competition, in conjunction with the Royal College of Art, giving students in the UK the chance to design the payment card of the future and win up to 25,000 Euros.

Creative Intelligence: design your ultimate credential is an international design competition and sees Visa teaming up with the Royal College of Art in the UK and five of Europe's most prestigious design schools in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The national winner from the UK will win 10,000 Euros and go on to compete at a European final at Visa's Annual Member Meeting in Malta in November, where they could win a further 15,000 Euros.

The competition aims to help design students kick-start their careers, both financially and, more importantly, with the opportunity for their work to be seen by almost 5,000 Visa member banks. As well as be innovative and inspiring, students have been asked to demonstrate practicality and functionality in their designs, that is, "creative intelligence".? Designs of any shape or size can be entered, however cards must contain a chip.

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Rector of the Royal College of Art, launched the competition today, commenting, "Creative Intelligence is a perfect example of how the arts can meet business. This project offers a wonderful opportunity for students to think about the way in which they can marry their creativity with practical, commercial consideration."

Greg Twitcher, Vice President, Visa UK commented: "Visa are incredibly excited and privileged to be launching this innovative competition with the Royal College of Art. Creative Intelligence allows Visa to demonstrate a flexible approach to design and commitment to developing new and exciting products and services for the future. We look forward to working closely with the Royal College of Art to help showcase designers of the future."

By making chip technology a key requirement for competition designs, Visa is raising awareness of the advancement of many European payment cards.? The microchip protects against fraud and can also contain a range of functions, from a choice of debit or credit payment to digital transport tickets and loyalty scheme membership.

For further information on Creative Intelligence please visit the website www.visacarddesign.com. The UK competition is open to all first year students at the Royal College of Art.

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For further information, please contact Kate Oyler on 020 7072 4145 or email koyler@gciuk.com, alternatively please contact Jacqueline Ray on 020 7072 4291 or email jray@gciuk.com.

The participating design schools are Les Ateliers Saint Sabin (France), HfG Offenbach (Germany), IED Madrid (Spain), POLI.design (Italy), Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Turkey) and The Royal College of Art (UK).

About Visa
Visa is one of the world's leading payment brands generating US$2.7 trillion in annual card sales volume. Visa has unsurpassed acceptance in more than 150 countries. The Visa organisation plays a pivotal role in developing innovative payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa is a leader in Internet based payments and is pioneering the creation of u-commerce, or universal commerce?the ability to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime, and any way. For more information, visit www.visaeu.com.

The Royal College of Art is the world's only wholly postgraduate university of art and design - fine, applied art, design and communications - offering the degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD. There are some 800 students with an average age of 26. They are taught by 100 academic staff, all of whom are distinguished artists, designers and writers who practise and research.

Kate Summerside at RCA, Tel 020 7590 4127 kate.summerside@rca.ac.uk

The Visa EU press office only deals with media enquiries relating to the organization's activities in the region. Journalists should email: europeanmedia@visa.com