“Creativity, which we all have as a young person, is great and it’s imperative we don’t lose it,” he says. “Mediocrity is not where you have to be; you can aspire to the different and the inventive.”

The expo brings together a host of design talent, local and international, creating a program of events promoting the value of design-driven innovation.

The schedule includes two events aimed squarely at young people: the ‘‘Futures’’ event for secondary school students to be held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, and the newest addition, ‘‘Next’’, aimed at engaging primary school children. Speakers include Melbourne-based illustrator Dean Gorrisen, well-travelled photographer Stephen Dupont and interior designer Simon Pole from Woods Bagot.

But it’s not just the expo that aims to inspire creative thinking. Schools, too, are helping students think outside the box. Andrew Kohane, head of campus at Preshil Senior School, says teachers, students and parents are embracing the challenge of developing individual learning plans for students, encouraging their creativity.

“It’s a not an easy thing, though, to move from a ‘one shoe fits all’ approach to learning to a personalised one,’’ Kohane says. ‘‘Preshil enables students to discover how they learn best, encouraging them to find their own rhythm, encouraging their passions and connecting them with the school curriculum to achieve high-level results.”

Cato says the expo aims to encourage creativity and demonstrate to children and their parents that design is a valid career choice.

He points out that almost nothing happens without some element of design.

“When you get up in the morning you think about the clothes you wear, the cup you drink out of, the toys you play with.

‘‘You never think about design, but it’s the thing that binds your whole life together, and if we can help kids and their parents to see that, then we’ll have achieved something great.”