DesignSingapore Council

About Us

As Singapore's national agency for design, we champion the use of design to grow business, spur innovation, and improve lives.

Singapore is a nation by design. Nothing we have today is natural, or happened by itself. Somebody thought about it, made it happen.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

Design is a powerful tool for change - it can generate impactful outcomes for our society, our economy and the world. At DesignSingapore, we believe that innovation and design are critical to create experiences that draw out emotion and care. We have a responsibility towards our environment and our future, and Singapore is the perfect place in the world to design the solutions that will propel the world forward.

Dawn Lim, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council

At the DesignSingapore Council, we are passionate about unleashing the power of design to drive growth and economic success, bring people together and improve lives.

The design sector is poised to enhance Singapore’s value proposition and contribute to its economic growth and progress. Thus, the DesignSingapore Council was established in 2003 as the national agency that promotes design. In 2015, we were designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design. This recognition is incorporated in our mission and is used to develop the creative culture and eco-system in Singapore to fully integrate design and creativity into everyday life.

To help us achieve this, we are guided by the Design 2025 Masterplan, with three focus areas, detailed below. The DesignSingapore Council is a subsidiary of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

Vision

Singapore to be an innovation-driven economy and a loveable city through design by 2025.

Mission

To develop the design sector, help Singapore use design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design.

Our focus

Our work focuses on three areas:

Our genesis and journey

2002

The National Economic Review established that the creative industries were important for Singapore’s next phase of development.

2003

Establish

We were set up under the then Ministry of Information and the Arts (MITA), now known as Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI).

2004

Promote

We sought to develop the design sector to enhance Singapore’s value proposition, promote and enable design adoption by Singapore enterprises for economic growth, innovation and social progress. We set out our vision in the DesignSingapore I Initiative.

2009

Enable

In this phase we continued to support the development of the design sector and support businesses in the adoption of design for innovation and productivity. We put forth our strategies and programmes in the DSG-II Strategic Blueprint of the DesignSingapore Initiative.

2013

We moved into our home at the National Design Centre.

2014

Focus

We put in place a bridging plan to focus on productivity and innovation in the food, retail and infocomm sectors and build the emerging design domains.

2015

Singapore was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design.

2016

Embed

We launched the 10 year Design 2025 Masterplan to further integrate design into the way we live, learn, work and play – to embed design into our workforce, businesses, government and community.

2019

On 1 April 2019, we transferred to the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to position design as a key driver for innovation-led economic growth and a core competency for local companies as they expand into global markets.

Find out more

Team

We develop Singapore’s design sector, promote design for innovation and growth, and make life better in this UNESCO Creative City of Design.

UNESCO Creative City of Design

In 2015, Singapore joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) as a City of Design.

Singapore Design

Singapore Design is Asian at heart, and global in mind. It is a mindset, a way of being.

Partners

We collaborate with the government, industry stakeholders, schools and design communities.