2025 masterplan to enable Singapore to be global city of design

IF all goes as planned, by 2025, Singapore will be a thriving innovation-driven economy and a loveable city by design.

This was laid out by the Design Masterplan Committee in its report, Design 2025 - Singapore by Design. Design 2025 is a masterplan comprising 15 recommendations on how Singapore can take the next leap towards its goal of being a global city of design.

The recommendations that the committee put forth include starting a Design Promotion Unit within the government to provide one-stop assistance for SMEs and Singapore-based MNCs which wish to scale up their use of design to achieve growth.

Another recommendation is to set up a Business Centre at the National Design Centre so that micro-SMEs can tap a pool of common business services such as public relations, human resources and intellectual property management to grow their business.

These two recommendations will be implemented soon, said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, at the launch of Design 2025.

The Design Masterplan Committee is headed by Dr Beh Swan Gin, chairman of Economic Development Board, and comprises members of the design industry, such as Tai Lee Siang, group managing director of architecture firm Ong&Ong Singapore, and Tim Kobe, chief executive officer of design consultancy firm, Eight Inc.

Some of the other recommendations include increasing the knowledge and practice of design thinking among public servants for better policymaking and delivery of public services; promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in design and support design research to foster experimentation and intellectual property creation; fostering the appreciation of design through outreach activities in the community and profiling Singapore Design by curating Singapore Pavilions in major trade fairs and design shows.