Design 2025 sets course for expanding role of design in Singapore

SINGAPORE — By 2025, companies in Singapore will see and use design as a tool for innovation, while communities will embrace the use of design in their daily lives.

That is the vision for Design 2025, which spells out the Design Masterplan Committee’s (DMC) recommendations to expand the role of design here.

In its report, the DMC set out 15 recommendations under five strategic thrusts, including the cultivation of creativity and design sensibilities in our students, the expansion of the role of design in businesses and government, the strengthening of the competitiveness of design firms, the engagement of design in the community, as well as the development of the Singapore Design brand.

“Design 2025 is a starting point, and frankly the recommendations are not exhaustive … There will be many other things the community and the design sector will come up with and it will definitely take off on its own,” said Dr Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the DMC, in a media conference yesterday.

In particular, the committee is encouraging the launch of enrichment programmes for students from pre-school to secondary levels, as an introduction to design. It also hopes to develop a pipeline of multi-disciplinary, industry-ready designers, as well as introduce continual professional development and accreditation programmes.

“The idea is not to add on more load to the students and to the schools, but actually creating an integrated coherent curriculum of teaching design and introducing design from the pre-school level all the way to the JC level,” said Beh.

“The key there is it will seep and it will awaken the interest and the passion for many young people who, if not for this introduction, may not discover this talent.”

The DMC is also recommending the formation of a Design Promotion Unit, which will pool resources from various government agencies to provide one-stop assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises and Singapore-based multinational corporations that intend to scale up their use of design for growth. In addition, the committee has asked for a Business Centre at the National Design Centre to help firms expand locally and overseas by providing access to shared services.

The Design 2025 report has been accepted by the MCI, which will now work to implement the recommendations.

“I am confident that the recommendations outlined in Design 2025 will help increase design adoption and grow the design industry further,” said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, 
in a statement to the media.

“More importantly, they will enable businesses to create business opportunities, and society to improve the quality of life for our people through design,” he added, saying that he hoped that the public and private sectors would help to “realise the vision of making Singapore an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city by 2025”.

The DMC is appointed by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and comprises 16 leaders from the design industry, business, academia and government, including Priscilla Shunmugam of Ong Shunmugam, Loh Lik Peng of the Unlisted Collection and Jeffrey Ho of DesignSingapore Council. HON JING YI