Singapore, Country by Design, Tech News & Top Stories

In the first article in a three-part series on design innovation, senior education correspondent Sandra Davy talks to S. Iswaran, Minister of Information and Communications, about how design thinking is used to formulate government policies and programs. I will talk.

Meet Michael Hong, 63, who persuaded dozens of older people who once avoided electronic payments to use them on a daily basis.

Semi-retired businessmen who signed on to become digital ambassadors during last year’s circuit breaker have a special touch when teaching older people how to use digital tools.

He encourages them to take notes that they can refer to. To further strengthen his teachings, he trains them in front of him.

“Most of the time, they are worried about security issues when using electronic payments, so how did they have the same worries as when I started, and what is the way to protect myself? ? “

He doesn’t just tell seniors and hawkers that technology needs to be adopted. He also uses examples of life in which they can be involved to explain why they need to adopt technology.

He is one of 1,000 digital ambassadors hired and trained by SG Digital Office to help hawkers and seniors make the leap.

Information and Communications Minister S. Iswaran said the use of older people like Hong is a human-centered interactive process to ensure that no one is left behind in promoting Singapore’s continued digitization. He said it was just one of the ideas that hatched using some design thinking.

He added that the SG Digital Office team making plans realized that ambassadors needed to be able to address and empathize with the challenges faced by different groups of people in order to ride a digital band wagon. I did.

“So, older people have young people in their late teens and early twenties. They are the age of their grandchildren, so they can have a relationship with them,” he explained. “And you have people in your 50s and 60s who have the same fears and difficulties as learning how to use digital tools.”

He said another important part of the plan was to make it easily accessible to digital ambassadors, that is, to be incorporated into the community.

“That is, for hawkers and market stall holders who are in community centers, libraries, hawker centers, coffee shops, wet markets and are trying to convert using digital electronic payments,” he said, and more hawkers. Added. Participating in the Hawkers Go Digital scheme, 10,000 stall holders are accepting electronic payments.

In an interview with The Straits Times, he covered a variety of other cases where Singapore used design thinking to put citizens’ well-being at the center of public sector improvement initiatives.

Q: What is design thinking that applies to government policymaking?

A: From my point of view, there are two parts. One is in focus and the other is from a process perspective. The focus of design thinking is on human centrality. In the case of government policymaking, the focus is on citizens.

Whatever products, services, programs, policies, etc. we create, the end result must be to improve the lives, lives and well-being of citizens and society.

About S. Iswaran

S. Iswaran, 59, is currently Minister of Information and Communications, focused on strengthening the telecommunications and media sectors and accelerating digital transformation across the economy.

He also oversees policies and strategies for building digitally-enabled communities, as well as efforts to develop future libraries and strengthen government communication. As Minister of Cyber ​​Security, I oversee efforts to ensure safe and secure cyberspace.

Mr. Iswaran is also the Minister of Trade and Industry of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, overseeing various bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.

He joined Singapore Administrative Services in 1987.

He worked for the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Education, was seconded to the National Trades Union Congress, and later to the Singapore Indian Development Association as the first Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Iswaran was Director of International Trade at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry before Singapore hosted the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in 1996.

He then joined the private sector as Director of Strategic Development at Singapore Technologies. He was also previously Managing Director of Temasek.

Mr. Iswaran has been elected to the Diet in six general elections since January 2, 1997. Prior to his appointment in the Cabinet in 2006, he participated in several Parliamentary Commissions and acted as a member of parliament from September 2004 to June 2006.

Iswaran read economics at the University of Adelaide and graduated with a prestigious honor. He also holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.

Register for Design Innovation Forum

To hear more from Minister of Communications and Information S. Iswaran, you can register to participate in the Virtual Design Innovation Forum by the Singapore Institute of Technology (SUTD), which is affiliated with The Straits Times.

British inventor and founder of Dyson, James Dyson, architect Brian Yang, and SUTD President Chung To Chung will also speak.

Registration is free.

SUTD Design Innovation Forum

March 19th, 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm Speaker

Minister of Information and Communication S. Iswaran

Sir James Dyson, Chairman and Founder of Dyson

Brian Yang, a partner of the architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group

SUTD President Chung To Chung Professor

Moderator

Mark Wee, Executive Director of Design Singapore

To register, go to str.sg / SUTD Forum or scan the QR code

The other part of design thinking is the process. First, you need to understand what the problem you are trying to solve. Some call it a problem statement. Some say they understand the needs of their customers.

Then I have an idea. Discover new possibilities and design solutions. It’s about turning these first ideas and research efforts into value.

Finally, the actual test is the execution or implementation of these programs. The government aims to help citizens understand and respond to programs and policies. For example, we launched SG Digital Office and incorporated 1,000 digital ambassadors into our community. This is because some older people understand that they have concerns and challenges in digitization and need the support of their digital journey.

It’s not much different from a product-it’s designed, manufactured, and finally delivered to the consumer. Nevertheless, it must be an iterative process. We need to learn from experience and be willing to adapt and respond to changes in technology development, demographic trends, globalization and more.

Q: So do you think design thinking is becoming more relevant in many areas of government?

A: Yes. It has been injected in many areas of government by providing transportation services to reduce waiting times in hospitals. Even our library and the annual Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix race use a design thinking approach.

Our National and Regional Libraries-They are very popular and well-loved. This is partly due to the way it was designed and conceived.

They provide an entire host of programs and services, both in the library and online.

The NLB (National Library Board) aims to provide an integrated customer experience. Regular customers can access the resources online and then attend the event directly at the library. The experience should be seamless. Therefore, in that sense, our library is an omni-channel service provider.

Design thinking has been used to design and curate the look and feel of the physical space, as well as the resources we provide and the activities we perform in the library.

When designing a library, NLB looks at the profiles of library users and the large communities in which they are located. Analyze behaviors such as borrowing trends so that local libraries can meet the needs of different groups of people. -Whether they are children, family members, teenagers, or working professionals.

One example is Library @Orchard, which won the award for its design. It has the concept of a design studio that provides space for learning, thinking and collaboration, and has the largest public library collection on design and applied arts.

Q: You mentioned Formula 1 races, but how is design thinking used to hold annual races?

A: We don’t just hold car races. We wanted to achieve something else. This was an opportunity to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global and vibrant city. So yes, we decided it would be a race in the center of the city, but we also had to think about what we wanted to put around it.

So we added layers of different activities around the race: business networking events, lifestyle events-food, fashion, shopping, and tourism. Introducing Singapore all together requires proper and thoughtful planning and implementation.

Q: How do you think you can spread the design thinking approach?

A: The university teaches design thinking and offers unique design-centric interdisciplinary education as well as Singapore Institute of Technology. In a broader sense, students should begin to instill a design thinking approach by encouraging problem-solving and critical thinking in school through approaches such as project work.

And to penetrate this approach to business, community, and government, we need to enable companies that are enthusiastic about applying design thinking techniques to get started across schools, such as the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Pixel Design Thinking program. there is. To facilitate digital innovation projects, or design innovation processes.

Ultimately, design thinking is a spiritual habit that can and needs to be developed. We need to inject it into our approach to problem solving and innovation to ensure that our products, policies, or programs continue to meet the needs of our customers and citizens.

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