The Design Intelligence awards were launched by the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art on Friday to encourage innovative industrial design.

The winners of the awards that are jointly sponsored by the university, the China Industrial Design Association and the local government of East China's Zhejiang province will be announced in May after a 10-member panel finalizes the list.

Song Jianming, a professor at the China Academy of Art, who is also the president of the awards' organizing committee, says the awards distinguish themselves from other such honors in China with closer ties to the market and new judging criteria. China now has dozens of design awards that are presented annually.