The Design Management Institute (DMI) was founded in 1975 at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Since the mid-1980s the DMI has been an international non-profit organization that seeks to heighten the awareness of design as an essential part of business strategy, and become the leading resource and international authority on design management. One year later the first conference was organized. The DMI increased its international presence and established the "European International Conference on Design Management" in 1997, and a professional development program for design management.