The MENA Design Research Center is a non-profit organisation based in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded in 2011, it remains one the region's few institutions that focus on Design as a multidisciplinary tool for social development and research. In 2012, the center initiated and organised the first Beirut Design Week, which set off the beginning of design weeks in the Middle East & North Africa.

The goal of the organisation is to use design research methodologies as tools for the creative and critical development of cultural projects, education and social entrepreneurship. Through multidisciplinary and participatory team work, strategies are built and refined in order to reach the most impactful and feasible results. The range of activities of the center include workshop design and facilitation, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, publications and festivals.
The creative process involved in problem finding & solving -whether in communications, products, systems or services- could be applied to a varied scale of disciplines and fields. The MENA Design Research Center promotes this diverse understanding of design  through the implementation of design research and collaborative multidisciplinary projects in the region.
MENA DRC contributes to a variety of social issues by developing innovative tools through design thinking and co-creation. The center is also closely linked to design education in order to encourage and guide the participation of designers in the non-commercial, public, and non-profit domains. 

Mission and Objectives

• To develop awareness of the value of design research to any project or organisation

• To work in collaboration with universities and schools to develop this form of methodology and apply it in curricula

• To link the MENA region to the global world of design research and depict an image of the region linked with innovation and progressive thinking through arts and culture

• To support multidisciplinary cultural exchange between the MENA region and its neighbours

• To use design research to develop cultural projects with social impact

• To use design research to formulate critical thinking through cultural projects such as exhibitions, conferences, workshops..etc.

• To encourage multidisciplinary teamwork through participatory workshops and events

• To highlight social and environmental challenges of the MENA region as opportunities for creatives to tackle

• To teach social entrepreneurship skills to creatives in order to develop ideas into sustainable businesses or organisation

• To publish information relevant to design research and critical thinking from the MENA region

• To be inclusive and non-elitist by reformulating the work of the organisation to the public through accessible means such as entrance-free festivals and public interventions