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How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

For a relatively small country like Singapore with limited natural
resources, it is important to innovate in order to stay ahead of
global competitors and also to maintain the country's growth.
Unlike countries like Qatar which can rely on its vast supply of
natural resources like oil and natural gas to keep its economy
afloat, Singapore has to find other ways to remain relevant in
the increasingly competitive world. Businesses in Singapore,
regardless of their size, are highly encouraged by the government
to implement and integrate new technologies to become more efficient and productive. A study in 2017 by Singapore Business Federation showed that 28% of businesses in Singapore found that the use of technology in their field was crucial for their survival, implying that as time goes on businesses in Singapore will have to continue innovating new technologies to survive. Another way innovation is important to
Singapore is improving the quality of life for its residents. The Housing & Development Board which was set up in 1960 is a prime example of how innovation helped to solve Singapore's housing crisis. This shows that innovation is an important factor for Singapore's future.

Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry?

Innovation is considered an upmost importance in the IT industry. Both businesses and individuals are required to innovate and adapt to the everchanging and developing field. Businesses have to continue improving their products or services each year to remain
relevant and competitive. Examples of this would be companies like Apple or Samsung which releases both new products like phones with improved hardware and software every year in order to continue their business. With the use of new technologies, it is important that individuals continue to learn and innovate to specialise in multiple
fields to either compete with their own businesses or secure a career in the IT industry.

How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Design thinking encourages successful innovations and ideas. The five stages of design thinking
(empathise, define, ideate, prototype and testing) leads designers right into the exact problem they want to solve and to come up with creative solutions through testing and evaluating their choices and options. This allows designers to come up with the best product or solutions to solve problems.

Source:

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singapore business federation



trade investment industrial relations apex business chamber

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Innovation is Increasingly a Top Priority for Singapore Businesses Amid Economic Uncertainties in 2019

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The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is the apex business chamber championing the interests of the Singapore business community in the areas of trade, investment and industrial relations.

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1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Innovation is extremely vital in Singapore's economy. Being a country with little to no natural resources, Singapore's government heavily invests in the research & development (R&D) department.
They provide grants and funding to startups as well as an attractive innovation ecosystem.
Singapore is seen as a international hub for innovation and R&D. Therefore, many companies choose to start up their businesses in Singapore, which in turn helps boost its economy.

https://yourstory.com/2019/10/singapore-driving-global-innovation

2. Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry?
Engineering is the use of science and technology to solve problems in the world. Innovation is important to continuously reinvent and keep up to date with modern world problems.
Innovation in Biomedical Engineering is especially crucial as it solves problems relating to human healthcare. The most recent invention by NUS was a machine that could detect COVID-19 within 1 minute just by exhaling in it.

https://news.nus.edu.sg/research/60-second-breath-test-detect-covid-19

3. How can design thinking help one to be more innovative
Design thinking revolves around empathising with the targeted user and understanding the problem faced through their shoes. This can help to come up with innovations more suited for them rather than for the masses.

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1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Innovation is a crucial in Singapore as Singapore is a small country with no natural resources. Therefore, there is a need for innovation to keep with the times with this rapid change times by solving our own problems. One innovation in Singapore that is stated in the documentary is the agriculture technology, the first world’s vertical commercial farm, that can help to grow vegetables for our human population, which reduces the need to rely on the importation of food from other countries. Even though the land area in Singapore is scarce, Singaporeans are still able to find ways to make local farm produce. This further proves that there is a need for innovation in Singapore.

2. Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Innovation is important in Real Estate Business as it can help out in several ways. Innovation can help construction works by lessening the worker’s jobs, such ways includes having Build To Order (BTO) flats that are assembled before stacking up to form a building. This will make life easier for the workers as it is more extremely difficult and tiring to build an individual flat from scratch. Big data can play a huge role in the real estate world as they can help both real estate developers and real estate agents. Big data can help real estate developers know how their properties are performing, additionally, it can help developers to improve for their next project. Big data can also help real estate agents by having contactless service and knowing what the clients want by just one click away. An app called iERA does the job for real estate agents.

Design thinking can train one’s mind to think of ideas and improve them by making their ideas come true. As time progresses, being innovative will not be a difficult task as you can empathise with the troubles that people face on a daily basis, and at the same time think of a solution to help these people. Although the solutions might not be great, it would be good to jot it down and improve it when you have the time to do so. As such, when one goes through design thinking regularly, you will tend to be much more innovative as according to Gerald Puccio, creativity can be developed.

Sources used:

Woollard, D. (2019, November 27). 5 Trends in Real Estate Innovation. from https://www.fool.com/millionacres/real-estate-market/real-estate-innovation/

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Diploma: Mechanical Engineering

Innovation is important to a small country like Singapore as we do not have the same amount of resources as compared to bigger countries like the United States. Being able to innovate and come up with ideas is important for us as we can become useful to other bigger countries as well as be not as vulnerable as we were in the past. 

It matters to my industry and me as constantly innovating and creating new designs helps with tackling future problems. Mechanical engineers have always been trying to work hard in increasing things like accessibility, ease of use and quality, so that they can improve and change the way people are living currently. I personally think that design thinking could help us to be more innovative as we can then solve problems that could potentially be something a lot worse in the future. An example would be further developing electric cars. In an article “Electric Car Innovation: How Electric Vehicles are changing the world”, they pointed out that the electric vehicle market is continuing to evolve with new innovations in terms of better battery life and an electric car monopolization. (Smith, 2020) This is because one of the main problems that electric vehicles had in the past was a battery that could not go far enough without having to charge. This meant that there was not really an incentive to want to change to electric cars as they were not as energy efficient as petrol powered cars. However, as technology has advanced and as engineers have made breakthroughs, electric vehicles now have a lot more range than they had a couple years ago. This is also occurring in tandem with the decreasing battery prices, thus making the vehicles cheaper and more cost-effective to run as petrol prices are starting to increase from $1.29/litre in January 2016 to $1.67/litre in January 2018 according to Budget Direct Insurance. 
Design thinking can help one to be innovative as it is the method of putting human users at the centre of the products created. It is the process of which to put humans in the centre of consideration when building and making tools and objects for us to use effectively and efficiently.  

Sources used:
Smith, A. (2019, September 10). Electric Car Innovation: How Electric Vehicles Are Changing the World. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/resources/electric-car-innovation-how-electric-vehicles-are-changing-world/
“What can you do about rising petrol prices? Read on.”(2018, 17 July). Retrieved October 23, 2020, from: https://www.budgetdirect.com.sg/blog/save-more-singapore/real-ways-to-reduce-your-spend-on-petrol

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Jana Dayao (BME)
How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Innovation is important in Singapore. Singapore has limited resources such as land and these could create problems. Without enough land, Singapore is unable to house Singapore's population. Therefore, people in Singapore had to innovate ideas to counter the problem. A solution to this was to build HDB flats which are affordable for Singaporeans. This made Singapore more successful. With more innovations in other aspects such as water industry and technology, Singapore is able to position themselves as one of the world's most innovative countries. Therefore, innovation is important in Singapore.

Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?
Being innovative is important in the healthcare sector. Especially with the current pandemic, the competition his high between companies to provide the best devices to hospitals. Innovation helps to make devices that are of the best possible quality, efficiency and at a lower cost. By following the 5 steps in design thinking, people are able to prototype their products according to what the people truly need. They can also further improve their design after their possible consumers feedback possible changes that could be made to make the product better. This will then stretch one's ideas and enable them to think further and more uniquely.

Sources:
https://www.healthcatalyst.com/innovation-in-healthcare-why-needed-where-going
https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-10-most-innovative-countries-bloomberg-says-2020-1
https://qz.com/629993/how-singapores-lack-of-natural-resources-yielded-a-model-contemporary-city/

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Diploma: Biomedical engineering

1.       How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Innovation is important as it ultimately allows Singapore to become a more independent nation. Since Singapore is one of the smallest countries in the world, it does lack natural resources such as limited land and drinking water. This makes Singapore prone to challenges and will result in us seeking assistance from other countries. With innovation, Singapore will be able to design solutions that solve these problems effectively. For example, Singapore has introduced NEWater to counter the limited amount of drinking water in Singapore. NEWater is the process of treating waste water to drinkable fresh water using highly advanced membrane filtration technologies. This reduces the likelihood of Singapore going to other countries for assistance and therefore will become a more independent nation.

2.       Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Since my module is part of the healthcare industry, innovation is crucial
in treating patients and improving medicine as a whole. This is especially
important now as we are amidst a global pandemic. For example, the medical
technology market in the Asia-pacific is expected to reach S$190 billion, a S$102
billion difference from 2015 alone. Furthermore, design thinking allows someone
to be more innovative as it helps others have a basis for the innovation
process thus being able top have more promising results

Sources:
1. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/170m-fifth-newater-plant-launched
2. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/medical-tech-firms-drawing-more-investment-amid-crisis

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Diploma: CSF
1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Unlike our neighbors, Singapore is a small and resource starved country. This means that we do not have any natural resources for us to rely on for our country's prosperity. Thus, the only thing that Singapore can rely on is their citizens, more specifically, their capibilities to improve the country through their ideas and actions. However, hard workers by themselves will not be able to propell Singapore into success. It must be the innovative and revolutionary ideas that our people come up with, as it is only though these ideas that we would be able to launch ourselves ahead of the competition and prosper.

2. What does it matter to you and your industry? How can design thinking helps one to be more innovative?
In cybersecurity, it is highly important that those in the industry are innovative. This is because conventional straightforward thinking would not be able to help you get into the mindset of trying to defend or break computer systems. This means that in order to get any sort of progress, one would have to be able to think creatively in order to break and futher protect computer processes. One such example is a cyberattack known as a SQL injection. Typically, people who are trying to protect the website may try to do things like break encryption, but innovators have discovered that you could easily infect website simply by inserting code through their comment boxes. This method, compared to conventional method such as trying to break website encryptions, is far more innovative and effective, and thus innovation is needed in the cybersecurity industry as most problems need to be solved creatively.

Design thinking can help one to be more innovative as stages such as empathising and ideation would help people to be able to think of more creative ideas that may most likely be more effective then conventional methods.

Source:https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_injection.asp

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Reflection
1) How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
- Singapore is a small country with very limited natural resources. As such, for Singapore to do well, innovation is required to compensate for our lack of natural resources. An example of this is green buildings, such as the artificial trees in Gardens By The Bay. These buildings are solar powered, saving unnecessary electricity usage. Not only that, there are over 150 000 living plants planted on these buildings to help with the environment.
Reference: https://www.socialinnovationacademy.eu/8-examples-of-social-innovation-in-singapore/

2)Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

- Innovation is important to the aerospace industry as there will always be the need for better airplanes globally. As people become more well to do, there will be and increase in tourism. This results in the need for better airplanes to cater to the tourists needs, in terms of safety for example. We can also make use of innovation to perhaps find a better source of fuel for airplanes such that it is more environmentally friendly.

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How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Since Singapore has a small market, we cannot rely on importing goods from other countries to manufacture things all the time. Singapore is now one of the largest exporter of products, so we have to be more competent in this first world economy. Innovation is important so there would be new solutions to our current situations. Singapore is also preferred for companies to set up their regional headquarters in Asia. Knowing this, the Government expanded the research capabilities of our universities and the research institutes of the A*Star.

Why does it matter to you, and your diploma/industry?

Innovation is really important to the technology and information industry because it allows new technology to be created and information to be spread out more efficiently. In this digital era, many people are coming up with new and different technologies and ways to improve society with the technology. Looking at a business standpoint, technological innovation also allows the growth of industrial economies. Many business models have been improved due to innovations.

How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Design thinking allows a step by step thought process that breaks down on how new innovations can come about. It allows different perspective on ways things can be built to improve products. Design thinking also draws on imagination and logic so that the desired outcome could be possible.

Articles:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/technological-innovation#:~:text
=variety%20of%20industries.-,Technological%20innovation%20creates%20opportunities%
20for%20entrepreneurs%20to%20found%20new%20organizations,can%20be%20only%20imperfe
ctly%20anticipated.
J.A.C. Baum, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001

https://www.viima.com/blog/importance-of-innovation
Julia Kylliäinen (April 26,2019).
The Importance of Innovation – What Does it Mean for Businesses and our Society?

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To Singapore, innovation is one of the most important things that we can do. A small country like Singapore has no natural resources,  which forces us to import majority of the things that we utilize. Even as a small country, we still have many problems which pop up in all sectors. Innovation is important as it helps to come with solutions to many real-world problems.

For the Aerospace Industry, there are many applications for innovation. One example of such would boeing where they came up with transportation drones which can carry up to a load of 4kg and deliver packages. (National Geographic, 2018) With the recent Covid-19 pandemic, these kind of drones can become really useful as it can help to minimize the contact between people to prevent the spread of germs. With Design thinking, it will be much easier to identify problems and then continue to come up with many different solutions to tackle the issue. Due to the five steps you can take in design thinking, the step by step process helps to break down the way we solve a problem into simpler fractions. The simpler the better. We will then be able to generate much more ideas. As more problems are solved, we will be able to further advance technology in Singapore and bring it to greater heights.

Sources Used: City of the Future: Singapore – Full Episode | National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6r3hZe5Tg

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Shakthikumaran - Marine and offshore technology

How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

It is important to Singapore. As a small country with lack of natural resources, we as a nation need to be creative and stand out so that we have something unique to  trade with other countries which will us to grow and have the necessary resources that we need.

Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Maritime industry plays its role in Singapore’s progress and development, especially for its economy. Maritime trade, businesses and activities are crucial for Singapore’s growth.

In this competitive world, where a lot of countries have their own maritime industry which increases the competition between the countries for trading and businesses therefore is important to be innovative to be unique and others to be willing to trade with us.

I think that the design thinking approach will greatly help us to be more creative and come out with an efficient and new idea, also be a great help for us to solve future problems with the creativity and innovation that we have.

For instance the maritime innovation ecosystem which achieve vibrancy, collaboration and new growth areas.

https://www.mpa.gov.sg/web/portal/home/maritime-companies/research-development

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1.How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Innovation is very important to a country like Singapore as Singapore does not have any natural source of raw materials to trade with other countries and stimulate its economy. Instead Singapore produces human capital by having the most rigorous education system.  These human capitals are essential to keep Singapore industries afloat, hence they need innovation. Innovation in this case would be an unorthodox solution or idea to help with any situation. Innovation is required in many aspects such as engineering, technology, economy and medicine to produce breakthroughs. One example of singapore's innovation is the invention on the usb flash drive originally invented by Singaporean company trek 2000 international, and the invention of the HDB and the production of public flats which controlled the space issue in singapore, Is testament to the need of innovation in singapore.
2.Why does it matter to you and your industry? How can design thinking help one to become more innovative?
Innovation matters to Singapore's aviation and aerospace industry as it enables Singapore to keep up with global aviation giants and increase our defense. Innovation in aerospace can be either for military or commercial or both. Innovation is important in the air force because, in war, establishing air superiority is crucial. So innovation in terms of pilot training, aerospace technology or missile technology is needed to safe guard our defense. Innovation in the commercial sector is needed  to 1) help bolster tourism in singapore. 2) Attract aerospace MNCs to singapore. 3) To stimulate the economy. Innovation in ways such as fuel economy, efficiency plans or greater quality of repairs. Also Innovation in both sectors would be important to help reduce global warming.
Design thinking helps me to become more innovative because I am able to better understand the problem through empathizing, which also makes ideating easier as I am able to relate to the problem at hand even better. With the addition of the other stages, Innovation becomes a well thought out plan.

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Diploma: IT
How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

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Xavier Teo
Diploma: IT

Innovation is especially important for Singapore as we have limited resources like space, natural resources etc. and it is important for Singapore to constantly innovate to stay ahead of other countries who have more resources than Singapore. Innovation allows Singapore to discover opportunities to enhance products or services to stay ahead of other competitors who have more resources compared to Singapore.

Innovation is important in Information Technology as it allows us to make new programs to solve problems. Innovation matters to me in the IT industry as it me to find new or better ways to fulfill customer’s needs to stay ahead of competitors. Design thinking helps me to actively look for problems to solve instead of waiting for the right opportunity. It also helps me by constantly thinking of new ideas to solve a problem instead of sticking to one solution thinking it’s the best.

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WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson

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How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Innovation has been a key role in boosting the economy of Singapore, due to the small market.

One way, this was achieved was by expanding the research capabilities of the universities and the research institutes of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research or A*Star. This benefitted Singapore vastly as the number of research scientists and engineers has more than doubled between 2000 and 2015 to reach 34,988. In that same period, business spending on research and development grew from $1.866 billion to $5.825 billion. It is also realised that innovation has to be an important priority for Singapore both to make more productive use of resources, and to create new businesses and new products in order to benefit us economically.

Source of Info: https://www.edb.gov.sg/en/news-and-events/insights/innovation/singapores-long-game-in-innovation.html

What does it matter to you and your industry? How can design thinking helps one to be more innovative?

Innovation matters in the aerospace industry as the aerospace industry is a volatile industry, with various problems. Constant innovation is needed in order to address these problems.  An example of how Innovation in Aerospace addressed a problem, is the Volocopter, which underwent tests in 2019. The Volocopter, is an unmanned air taxi, that can transport people from one place to another. The Volocopter solves the problem of higher commuting times due to traffic jams on roads. Another example, is the testing of delivery drones done by F-drones. On April 19,2020, A delivery drone from a local start-up, F-drones successfully delivered 2kgs of vitamins to an offshore vessels. This would alleviate congestion at ports as goods can be transferred onto ships from the port and vice versa. This also reduces unnecessary human contact, which applies to the current pandemic situation which would enable the efficient operations of ports, even with the limitations of a pandemic.

Sources of info:  https://www.asiaone.com/business/volocopter-air-taxi-flies-over-singapores-marina-bay and  https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/singapores-first-drone-delivery-service-takes-flight

How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

The steps in design thinking are, empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test. Design thinking will not work in an organization that is not open to feedback and does not spend enough time in the real world with customers. Ideation, enables more creative ideas to be produced, instead of ideas from a single person.  Building and testing of prototypes, enable mistakes to be found and tweaks to be refined.

Source of info: https://www.biola.edu/blogs/business-ministry-life/2016/how-can-design-thinking-help-organizations-become-more-innovative

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diploma: Marine and offshore technology

There are a few problems in the oil and gas industry.
One of which is that oil rigging negatively affects the environment.
This industry consumes large amounts of water and energy.
It also produces large amounts of nitrogen oxides which is bad for the atmosphere.
Oil spills too could affect the marine life around the oil rig
Stricter environmental standards threatens this industry if no
solution is found to this problem.
Hence, innovation is important to this industry
as to keep oils rigs functioning.
In Singapore, where water is a resource that is mostly imported,
finding a way to reduce the amount of water used to refine oil
would help the industry as well as provide more water for other needs.
Finding a way to reduce waste gas, water and oil spills would help protect the environment
which could affect future generations.

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The Next Great Battle: Fighting New Drilling Off The Atlantic

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Diploma: Aerospace Engineering :)

1.How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore

Innovation is very important to a small country like singapore as Singapore is a small country and has very limited resources, it has to constantly be innovating so that we can keep up to the global competition and not fall behind.

2. Why innovation is related to your diploma

With regards to my diploma which is in aerospace engineering, innovation is a crucial process that the aviation industry has to do constantly in order to be the top of the competition and to also combat  any customer complaints by fixing the problem with solutions and satisfying the customers. So the aviation industry has to constantly innovate to battle any flaws in their aircrafts to maximise customer's comfort and safety at the best price , which would then make their airplanes on the top of the chain.

3. How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Well first off, design thinking is broken down into 5 flowing steps, which is to empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test. This help a lot of people to come up with ideas step by step in order which tones down how much the person needs to think in order to make their own ideas flow. As often in times people get stuck during innovation as they do not know how to make their train of thoughts flow and further more how to communicate their ideas in a sequencing order.

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DIPLOMA : IT
1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
In a small country like Singapore it is quite important to come up with innovative ideas to shape the present and future needs of it's people in a sustainable manner because Singapore has very limited natural resources. So it is important that people of Singapore gain access to higher education and skills that will better equip them to innovate for the future. Without innovation or proper planning Singapore  would not have become the city we see it as today. Some of the major achievements of Singapore is the housing and transportation system. These have made standard of living in Singapore top notch. The country is also one of the easiest to start a business in making it a center of attraction for startups and other businesses. The country also benefits from the technology created by these startups in the long run. All these points at the importance of innovation in Singapore.

2. Why does it matter to you and your discipline / industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?
In my area of study which is IT, design thinking and innovation is inevitable. It is how  IT works in general, through ideas put forward by people. As a growing sector and area that is developing at a rapid pace, I think IT has a lot to contribute to Singapore in the coming years. IT helps people make their ideas into a reality by giving a physical form to it. Eg. To create an app to do a specific task or to develop a software to build prototypes.
In order to be innovative, design thinking must apply not just to users but humans as a whole. This will make the idea relevant in the long run (Friss Dam,2020). This also might inspire a large number of people to think about innovation and potential ideas for the future. And in this way design thinking helps people to be more innovative and creative.

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Einstein was certainly right - we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. In addition, with the rapid changes in society, the methods we have previously used to solve many of the problems we face are no longer effective. We need to develop new ways of thinking in order to design better solutions, services and experiences that solve our current problems. Design Thinking steps in with a bold newly systematised and non-linear human-centred approach. This will help us radically change how we go about exploring problems and creating solutions to those problems.

The problems designers, business owners, and engineers face today are in a whole new level of scale compared to the challenges we've faced in the past few decades. In a largely globalised world, where the changes in economic and natural resources can be felt halfway around the globe, our challenges are becoming more intertwined with the systems that connect us all. To solve the new wave of problems we face today and in the future, we need a new kind of thinking, a new approach towards innovation. Design Thinking is a large part of that new approach towards innovation, as it allows people, teams, and organisations to have a human-centred perspective, and yet a scientific approach, towards solving a problem. Tim Brown, CEO of the international design consultancy firm IDEO, makes this point in the introduction of his book, Change by Design:

"A purely technocentric view of innovation is less sustainable now than ever, and a management philosophy based only on selecting from existing strategies is likely to be overwhelmed by new developments at home or abroad. What we need are new choices-new products that balance the needs of individuals and of society as a whole; new ideas that tackle the global challenges of health, poverty, and education; new strategies that result in differences that matter and a sense of purpose that engages everyone affected by them. It is hard to imagine a time when the challenges we faced so vastly exceeded the creative resources we have brought to bear on them."
- Tim Brown

Which Problems Can Design Thinking Help us Solve?

One of the first questions people ask when hearing about Design Thinking is, "What is Design Thinking best used for?" Design Thinking is suited to addressing a wide range of challenges and is best used for bringing about innovation within the following contexts.

Redefining value

Human-centred innovation

Quality of life

Problems affecting diverse groups of people

Involves multiple systems

Shifting markets and behaviours

Coping with rapid social or market changes

Issues relating to corporate culture

Issues relating to new technology

Re-inventing business models

Addressing rapid changes in society

Complex unsolved societal challenges

Scenarios involving multidisciplinary teams

Entrepreneurial initiatives

Educational advances

Medical breakthroughs

Inspiration is needed

Problems that data can't solve

A Holistic approach to Challenges

Design Thinking is best suited to addressing problems where multiple spheres collide, at the intersection of business and society, logic and emotion, rational and creative, human needs and economic demands and between systems and individuals. We would most likely not require Design Thinking to tackle tame problems - that is, problems that are simple and that have fixed and known solutions - unless we were seeking a novel or innovative means to solving the problem with a different desired goal than the typical available solutions.

It's NOT Just a Process or Set of Steps

However, Design thinking is not necessarily only to be understood as a process or method for solving a set-in-stone collection of problems. It is also a mindset that can be applied in almost any scenario where innovation or thinking differently is required. It can also be combined with other methodologies, business strategies, social innovation models, and management practices. It's something that changes depending on its context and can use tools and techniques from other disciplines.

It's About Human-Centred Innovation

Design Thinking works best where we need to make human sense of things, approaching challenges in ways that best suit human needs regardless of the scale or authority of the challenge. A conformist, controlled, technical or linear approach is no longer able to grapple with the newly complex and sensitive needs of modern society.

It starts with an intention, a desire, a need or yearning towards a better situation or state. We have no way of knowing whether this is a mere dream or a practical and viable path to take. Design Thinking gives us the tools to explore What Could Be.

As Bruce Mau, founder of the Massive Change Network, put it:

"It's not about the world of design, but the design of the world".
- Bruce Mau

Cope with Disruptions in Society

Since the disruptions in human development caused by the Industrial Revolution, analysts have been strategizing ways of streamlining just about every business, production and economic process imaginable with the aim of extracting the maximum benefit from the least amount of time and resources. While this may have had some degree of success on the level of productivity and efficiency, the recipe to that much-needed innovation within all sectors has been somewhat of a conundrum. This is where Design Thinking steps in with a bold new human-centred approach at radically changing how we go about exploring problems and finding solutions to those problems, helping us break out of the old moulds we've become stuck in, so as to take a fresh look at the world around us.

Besides the ongoing struggles between the analytical and creative worlds, other factors have dramatically disrupted the way we see, understand, experience, and interpret the world around us. Technology is developing at such a rapid pace that job descriptions can barely keep up, let alone entire industries. Consumers demand much more now that they are constantly switched on, always informed, and obsessively sharing everything with their networks.

Focus on Humans, Not Users

In order to remain relevant, companies and organisations are also fighting a battle for attention on an unprecedented level. Besides the constant scrutiny and accountability, information overload is also reaching its peak. People are increasingly seeking out those products, services, and organisations that they personally connect with on a meaningful level. Many people are selecting the few options that speak directly to their human needs and experiences. This has driven Human-Centred Design and Design Thinking approaches of all types to mushroom in the last few years. Approaches to business and social innovation are increasingly looking for alternatives to the old models of adding value, by focusing on human needs and experience as primary motivating factors.

Innovative solutions need to be found that can keep up with massive disruptions affecting Human Resources, Energy, Sustainability, Education, Economic Constraints, Political Instability-these large, systemic and complex problems with capital letters-and a whole plethora of other challenges which existing strategic and management practices and processes are unable to pick apart.

Innovate or be Swept Away with the Tide

Idris Mootee, CEO of Idea Couture and a leading expert on applied Design Thinking in large-scale strategy innovation, wrote his book Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation about the implementation of Design Thinking methodology within business. The book outlines a number of disruptions in the business environment, including new consumer behaviour and expectations, forcing companies to rethink their every move.

"This disruption has not been so kind to businesses operating by the rules of the old model. We don't have to watch their ads anymore. We don't believe their marketing hype anymore. We don't want to eat their junk ingredients anymore. We don't have to buy from their stores anymore. And we don't want the best of them to just be profit machines anymore. We want more, when we want it, how we want it, and at the price we want it."
- Idris Mootee

Idris Mootee uses the analogy of the study of weather systems, where it was determined that even the slightest changes in atmospheric conditions may have dramatically varying results in the way weather patterns developed. The current climate of rapid change and upheaval is even more difficult to forecast for the future. We are unable to see what lies around the next corner, let alone months or years down the line. This means we need a completely new and dynamic approach to innovation and strategic planning: something less rigid that can quickly and easily adapt to the varying conditions we find ourselves in and those dramatic changes which lie around the next corner.

The abilities to understand and act on changes rapidly in our environments and changes in human behaviour are becoming crucial skills we are still developing and refining. Design Thinking offers a means for grappling with all this change in a more human-centric manner. In order to embrace Design Thinking and innovation, we need to ensure that we have the right mindsets, collaborative teams, and conducive environments.

Form the Right Mindsets, Teams, and Environments for Innovation

Author/Copyright holder: : Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Creating the right mindsets, selecting the appropriate team, and setting up environments which encourage innovation to take place are three of the essential aspects of fostering successful innovation within companies, organisations, and society at large.

1. Form The Right Mindsets for Innovation

One of the amazing things about Albert Einstein was the connection between his creative and analytical thinking. He was an extremely creative individual, deeply reflective of the human condition, weaknesses and failings while at the same time years ahead of most in terms of his analytical thinking capacity. His ability to join and synthesise worlds of influence, merging creative thinking with intense analytical abilities brought about the breakthroughs he achieved as a thinker and a scientist. Like Design Thinking, Albert Einstein relied on and celebrated both logic and imagination.

"Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Albert Einstein

The notion that creativity or "artistic" talent is only the domain of those gifted with these abilities is one of the most inhibiting factors in our lives today. However, it is becoming a more widely held belief that creativity and lateral thinking can be learnt, and with the implementation of the appropriate steps, process and mindset, can be unleashed to solve some of the "wickedest" problems (i.e., most complex and tricky problems) we find ourselves faced with. The challenge is that most modern corporations, organisations and institutional settings tend to kill creativity with an overly conformist notion of things.

The struggle between creative and logical thinking is an old one, which is yet to be understood fully, even with scientific breakthroughs in neuro- and cognitive science. It has been a common belief that those who tend to be more analytical, logical and rational in nature have always relied more heavily on the left side of their brains, while those who are more creative, expressive and emotional have relied more on the right side. This myth seems to have recently been busted, with studies indicating both sides of the brain are involved in both creative and logical processes of all kinds and work.

We need to develop more open, collaborative, and explorative cultures and mindsets, which combine both logic and imagination, in order to create new innovative solutions. And Design Thinking will help us do just that.

2. Create Cross-disciplinary and Innovative Teams

It is the norm in many organisations to encourage the development of skills and abilities relevant to a specific role. For instance, creativity is encouraged in graphic designers, while analytical skills are encouraged for marketing, business, and operations-related jobs. However, such a "boxed" organisation of talent, where different skills are developed and used in silos throughout different departments, will not be able to produce much of the innovation we need for the new wave of wicked problems.

We now know that a healthy collaboration between the creative and logical ways of thinking is crucial in creating the kind of holistic thinking that is required to understand and solve new kinds of multi-dimensional problems. This is also true for people working in multidisciplinary teams, where teams possessing a range of thinking styles, expertise, and experiences come together to develop solutions more effectively than narrow-focused, specialist individuals are able to working alone. In Design Thinking, cross-disciplinary collaboration plays an important role - it is when designers, ethnographers, business analysts, and marketers work together that we create truly revolutionary ideas. To facilitate Design Thinking and innovation, thus, organisations need to start thinking about truly cross-departmental, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and abandon the silo model of skills.

3. Create Environments Conducive to Innovation

The environments we inhabit and the activities we most engage in influence our thinking patterns, our understanding of things, and our ability (or lack thereof) to innovate.

This is why innovative companies like Google spend money to create workspaces that are filled with toys and unconventional equipment, and areas for creative thinking throughout their offices. It's also the reason that many companies clear space in their busy annual schedules to send their entire staff on team-building getaways where they build rafts together, jump around in circles and, in the best way possible, behave like kids. However, it's not only to make the company a fun and interesting place to work. It's about allowing for and tapping into the type of thinking which results in breakthrough innovation as opposed to churning out more of the same cookie-cutter patches to problems. Playing is risky business. You put yourself out there. Likewise, it takes courage to question status quo and come up with innovative solutions.

That's why we need to create dynamic spaces, both physically and metaphorically, where people are able to embrace change, explore the unknown, experiment with radically new ways of thinking, and work together collaboratively.
Author/Copyright holder: Mathew Ingram. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0
Google is one of the major companies which prioritise to spend time and money creating playful workspaces filled with toys and unconventional equipment. The goal is to help employees feel safe and that it's okay to come up with new and unconventional solutions in a playful manner.

IDEO Formed the Right Mindsets, Teams, and Environments for Innovation

How can you start forming the right mindsets, set up cross-disciplinary teams, and create playful environments to foster innovation? Let's take an example. After the 2000 dot-com bubble burst, IDEO CEO Tim Brown decided that it was time to do a redesign of the organisation. In the redesign, IDEO transformed the way collaboration within the organisation, as well as with external partners, worked fundamentally. IDEO created the concept of "One IDEO", which underscores the need to act not as independent design studios, but rather a single interconnected network of talents. The company also changed the way it organised its offices by abandoning the classic design studio model. Instead, they started adopting a "global practices" model, which helped teams organise according to global systems in areas like "Health Practice" and "Zero20" (which focuses on the needs of children up to the age of 20).

New organisational structures like that in IDEO - which are themselves subject to change as and when needed to better serve the needs of clients and the world - are needed to spur innovative collaboration between teams and create impactful solutions that make the world a better place. However, the changes do not have to be large-scale. While it's nice to have adult-sized playgrounds like those in Google and Facebook campuses, it is more than enough to ensure that the organisational layout and philosophy is one that encourages and prioritises collaboration and innovation.

The Take Away

The challenges organisations and countries face today are much more complex and tricky than the ones we faced a few decades ago. Part of the reason is globalisation, which brought together different agents across the globe into an interconnected web of systems that affect one another. To solve these new, complex problems, Design Thinking steps in with a bold and newly systematised, non-linear human-centred approach. Design Thinking allows us to adopt a human-centred perspective in creating innovative solutions while also integrating logic and research. In order to embrace Design Thinking and innovation, we need to ensure that we have the right mindsets, collaborative teams, and conducive environments. When we align our mindsets, skills and environments, we are able to create innovations that allow us to survive the disruptions we might face in the near future. Keep in mind a deep desire to create a better situation for the world around us, and start creating a better world for yourself and the world.

References & Where to Learn More

Tim Brown, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, 2009

Idris Mootee, Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation, 2013

Bruce Mau: http://www.brucemaudesign.com/work/massive-change

Don Norman. "Rethinking Design Thinking", 2013:
http://www.core77.com/posts/24579/rethinking-design-thinking-24579

Bill Moggridge, "Design Thinking: Dear Don", 2010:
http://www.core77.com/posts/17042/design-thinking-...

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Design Thinking: New Innovative Thinking for New Problems

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Einstein was certainly right - we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. In addition, with the rapid changes in society, the methods we have previously used to solve many of the problems we face are no longer effective.

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1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Innovation is important to a small country like Singapore as we have limited natural resources and our population is growing. It is important that we do not rely so heavily on other surrounding countries for these natural resources we lack. For example, NEWwater, a reclaimed water program that purifies waste water to make it drinkable. The population of people living in a small country like Singapore is increasing and hence it is important to find new ways to accommodate and make Singapore liveable for all.  For example, smart public housing is one way as mentioned in the video. In conclusion innovation could lead to higher productivity levels and also contribute to economic growth.

2. Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Innovation is important in the real estate industry that it is important to find new innovative ways to house the growing population in Singapore. Due to the advancements in technology and the increasing use of social media, some real estate agents have used social media platforms to advertise and sell the property. This would attract the attention of more people and help to sell the house faster.

You can watch it here : [Singapore Good Class Bungalow] Inside a MASSIVE $63 million relic hunter's GCB

Design thinking is a process to come up with meaningful ideas that solve real problems for a particular group of people with innovative new solutions and it includes 5 steps. Empathize, Define the problem, Ideate, Prototype and Testing.

# data[].attributes.body
1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Innovation is important to a small country like Singapore as we have limited natural resources and our population is growing. It is important that we do not rely so heavily on other surrounding countries for these natural resources we lack. For example, NEWwater, a reclaimed water program that purifies waste water to make it drinkable. The population of people living in a small country like Singapore is increasing and hence it is important to find new ways to accommodate and make Singapore liveable for all.  For example, smart public housing is one way as mentioned in the video. In conclusion innovation could lead to higher productivity levels and also contribute to economic growth

2. Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

Innovation is important in the real estate industry that it is important to find new innovative ways to house the growing population in Singapore. Due to the advancements in technology and the increasing use of social media, some real estate agents have used social media platforms to advertise and sell the property. This would attract the attention of more people and help to sell the house faster.

You can watch it here : [Singapore Good Class Bungalow] Inside a MASSIVE $63 million relic hunter's GCB

Design thinking is a process to come up with meaningful ideas that solve real problems for a particular group of people with innovative new solutions and it includes 5 steps. Empathize, Define the problem, Ideate, Prototype and Testing.

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Leticia Peh
Diploma: Design

How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

Singapore is a country that lacks natural resources such as land, water or oil. We are unable to depend on those to grow our economy. Thus, we need to use resources, which is the people, to grow our economy and progress. To do so, Singapore’s people need to be able to come up with creative and effective solutions that come from innovating. Singapore would also need to constantly come up with new solutions to problems it might face (eg: aging population, too high population density) which come from constant innovating.

One example is the MRT. Singapore needed to come up with an effective transport system, as usual solutions such as buses would not be adequate due to the eventual lack of road space. Fast forward to now, the MRT transports an average of 3.3 million Singaporeans per day and is a very efficient transport system.

Why does it matter to you, and your discipline/industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

In my industry, innovation is plays a major role. Designers are constantly coming up with new ideas to better suit a user’s needs. Design thinking allows designers to be able to emphasise with the user and come up with more effective solutions. Additionally, design thinking ensures that the solution that the designer came up with can be further refined so that the designer can come up with new ways to solve the problem.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/study-singapores-public-transport-system-one-of-worlds-most-efficient

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1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Innovation is extremely important to a small country like Singapore. This is because our country lacks natural resources like drinking water, coal and minerals.  Natural resources are important for human's everyday life. Thus, to ensure that we would be able to continue to sustain and survive in the world we need to come up with innovations that would ensure long-term sustainability of our limited resources.  For example, Singapore biggest supply of water have been from Malaysia, however it is not forever, the contract has a terminationdate and to ensure that Singapore would be able to continue to have drinking water, Technology innovations like NEWater allow us to have supply of drinking water by treating wastewater. Thus, innovation is extremely important to Singapore as a country which do not posses natural resources and scarce land. It is either to innovate or to die.

2. What does it matter to you, your discipline/industry?
It matters to my industry as with innovation, comes benefits like brand boost, preferred partnership, sustained customer loyalty, increased earnings and providing a great workplace that employees will be motivated and loyal to their job and company. For example, technology innovation like AI will definetely affect the hospitality industry in the future. There will probably be no need for front-desk receptionist, guests can check in by themselves with self-check-in kisoks (groupe.io). I would also need to be able to keep up with the new innovations implemented if i want to keep my job in the future or to get promoted to a higher position, as the world will be always advancing and improving.

3. How can design thinking help on to be more innovative?
Design thinking help to broaden our perspective and help us create better solutions no matter the problem. It encourages people to explore alternatives, creating options that never existed before.

References:
Groupe.io. Checking in to innovation in the hotel industry. Retrieved from: https://www.groupe.io/innovation-hotel-industry/
Genderen, Sean. (April 4, 2014). What is Design Thinking? Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sEoEvT8l8

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1.  How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Innovation is important for small countries like  Singapore as land is scarce. Due to this lack of land, it is challenging for Singapore to meet the demands for food, water and other resources locally. Currently, the majority of resources we have are imported from other countries.
To achieve sustainability and be self-reliant, new innovations are needed to overcome challenges. For example, 90% of food is imported from other countries (National Geographic, 2018), it is vital that Singapore can increase its food production to meet its population's demands. Since land is scarce, Singapore needs to find ways to use its land efficiently. Vertical farming is an innovative solution that overcame this challenge, to make use of land efficiently - producing more food per unit area.

2. Why does it matter to you, and your discipline/industry?
AND
3. How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

"a chain is no stronger than its weakest link" ~ Thomas Reid. People are the weakest link in cybersecurity because they act

undeterministically. Innovation is needed to secure this weakest link.

One such innovation is 2FA (2 factor authentication) where users need to verify they are in possession of their device and know their password. This protects users even if they choose an easy password. This requires design thinking as you first have to understand (empathise) that users do not like remembering long passwords and then solve this problem by adding another layer of security to protect those with shorter, less secure passwords.
Design thinking helps to focus on the challenge to overcome and provides a framework to generate solutions with a target audience in mind.

Source:
National Geographic, 2018,
https://youtu.be/xi6r3hZe5Tg

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1. How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?

It is very important as Singapore is a small country with limited resources. We need innovations to solve problems as well as to improve the current situation. Innovations are required in many aspects such as technology, sociology and economics. This is a strategy to sustain the country’s growth because it increases productivity, competitiveness, profitability as well as gain new relationships. Because of it, Singapore has successfully turned from third world to first. One good example is the introduction of HDB flats. Not only the people get housing, it also stimulated the economy such that Singapore has become one of the most successful country. Thus, innovation is very important to Singapore.

2. What does it matter to you and your industry? How can design thinking helps one to be more innovative?

Innovation matters a lot in Singapore Aerospace Industry as it helps to solve challenges to reach greater heights. It is constantly being brought into Aerospace Engineering for different purposes such as increasing work productivity, safety and quality etc. Singapore’s Aerospace Engineering industry has been making significant developments to keep the country up to date and the future of the industry in Singapore is looking bright. One of the recent innovation was the Airbus’s Skyways project which helps to delivery parcel in NUS campus.

Article on the Airbus’s Skyways project :

https://www.edb.gov.sg/en/news-and-events/insights/innovation/the-future-is-taking-off-three-exciting-aerospace-innovations-from-singapore.html

Design thinking is broken into 5 stages: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.  It helps one to be more innovative because it allows us to better understand the problem that we want to solve first. It then allows us to generate different ideas, create prototypes and test which idea is the best solution. Thus, design thinking helps one to be more innovative due to the well organized stages.

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Diploma: ECE

How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
:

Like what the video mentioned; “To innovate or to die” (National Geographic, 2018), it captures the essences of what Singapore is today. With Singapore being the smallest country in Asia, we have limited land and recourses. To continue to survive and live in Singapore, we need to innovate and come up with unique ideas that can benefit the people living here. Without innovation, Singapore might not be what it is today: A city of the future (National Geographic, 2018).

Why does is it matter to you, and your discipline/ industry? :

It matters as, specifically technology and engineering, as those two disciplines are what is going to lead us into a very advanced and highly technological society.

For example, being a software developer/engineer. Their task is to create a framework and apps that can run on everyday technology such as computers, phones, and other devices. They are “encompassing new and exciting sectors like healthcare, space exploration, and autonomous vehicles” (Silman, 2020). Which means that a software engineer is very much needed in every industry.

Another example is that isn’t too far from home is the Tuas desalination plant. The whole purpose of the plant is to remove the chlorines from the sea water to make it into drinking water. “The Tuas desalination is a modern marvel of precision engineering” (National Geographic, 2018). To further show that these marvels are worth the effort, the Tuas desalination plant “is a mere 100 meter by 300 meters” footprint. Compared to other plants around the world, this desalination plant produces the least amount of carbon footprint. (National Geographic, 2018). This shows that when engineering is used correctly with the right purpose, it might benefit everyone and make life a lot more convenient.

How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?

The whole purpose of
design thinking is to “come up with meaningful ideas that solve real problems for
a particular group of people” (Sprouts, 2017). Knowing that the whole purpose
is to help someone with a particular issue, you can use the design thinking
skill to “explore an alternatives, creating options that had not existed before”
(Van Genderen, 2014). This focuses on the user a lot and will encourage people
to come out with more innovative solutions. By applying the Design Thinking theory
into practice, “Suddenly the world’s problems are simple and manageable with Design
Thinking” (Van Genderen, 2014).

Sources used:

National Geographic.
(November 24, 2018). City of the Future: Singapore – Full Episode I            National Geographic. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6r3hZe5Tg&feature=emb_logo

Silman, Jamie.
(February 18, 2020). The 14 Best Engineering Jobs For The Future [For                2020 And Beyond]. Entechts.
Retrieved from    https://www.entechts.com/blog/2019/02/the-14-best-engineering-jobs-for-the-future- for-2020-and-beyond

Sprouts.
(October 23, 2017). The Design Thinking Process. Retrieved from                                   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0VX-aU_T8

Van
Genderen, Sean. (April 4, 2014). What is Design Thinking? Retrieved from                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sEoEvT8l8

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Hello, I'm Lee Dai En Ryan from AEG(Avionics). Innovation in Singapore is vital since we do not have any natural resources and we rely on human resource. Thus, by innovating and solving the country's problem can help booster the economic growth and improve standard of living.

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Mechanical Enginnering - Prashan Fernando

How is innovation important to a small country like Singapore?
Singapore is a country that is always growing, evolving and making new technologies to increase the development as a nation. The reason Singapore is doing so well as a country is due to the innovation of people living in Singapore. These innovations made the country what it is today and without them, Singapore would be very different. In order for Singapore to remain relevant in a global scale, innovation is important to continue growing the nation.
One example of innovation is the use of buses in NTU. The campus of NTU is very large and before the buses were implemented, students complained about the long walks they had to take to get to places around campus. The empathy step of design thinking was used and buses were introduced to the campus to take students from one place to another. This is shown in the link provided.

Why does it matter to you, and your discipline/industry? How can design thinking help one to be more innovative?
In Mechanical Engineering, innovation is a very important aspect. As the country continues to grow, the industry will require more advances to suit the needs of the growing country. This will require innovations to be made and thus innovation matters in mechanical engineering.
Design thinking will encourage creativity and to allow people to not be afraid of failing when trying or thinking of new ideas. This will lead to people making more creative and innovative ideas due to the continued practice of design thinking. Therefore it does help one to be more innovative.

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(Muhammad Firdaus) I am doing a diploma in engineering science. My diploma basically covers engineering as a whole and has a lot of engineering variety. Personally I believe that the industry of clean energy and energy storage is something that is the sandbox industry for innovation to occur as we now realize the importance of "going green". Finding more ways to obtain clean energy and new ways to store energy more efficiently with less energy loss is vital for the advancement of our society. Finding these new ways will require innovation in these sectors. For example one new innovation in the energy industry is liquid air batteries which would have higher energy densities and long power delivery

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Liquid Air Batteries. Literally energy from thin air. Seriously. Literally!

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Volocopter air taxi flies over Singapore's Marina Bay

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Enough of watching YouTube videos about the top 10 gadgets people are buying on Amazon, because #1, it is extremely difficult to get these gadgets and #2, some of these gadgets aren't actually that cool. So, we've done the tedious work for you and have filtered through these tech reviews.

Here are 15 insanely cool gadgets that are literally just at your fingertips (i.e. they're on Shopee so click on the links to check them out) 😉

1) Rocketbook

This is for the green folks out there. If you're looking for the most eco-friendly, yet smart notebook for your doodles or note-taking purposes, look no further because ($58-$60) is going to meet your every need. This notebook will never ever run out of pages, making sure you can really store all your thoughts in just one book. Take note to never drop it in water though, because this will erase everything inside...like magic. (P.S. Popping the device in the microwave will produce the same effect too!)Rocketbook

2) Printoss Machine

3) Mogics Power Bagel Travel Adaptor

The Mogics Power Bagel Travel Adaptor ($64) is the perfect accessory to bring on your travels. Don't belittle this mini donut/bagel looking travel power strip because it certainly packs a punch within its small frame. There are 4 universal points surrounding the sides, a US socket, and 2 USB ports for you to connect all your devices. And you don't even need to worry about your plugs being in conflict with each other, because the ergonomic plug structure of this adaptor enables easy plug in and out, with no overlap. You'll never have to worry about this problem anymore. Gone are the days of bringing around a bulky travel adaptor, the Mogics Travel Adaptor is all you ever need to satisfy all your charging needs.
Awesome little device..... Will definitely have a perm place in my work bag." - bc20nn " This product was wonderful for providing multiple outlets for use from a single wall outlet. This enabled conversion from a non-US power source to charge multiple battery chargers as well as additional USB ports concurrently. It's small size and weight were also a big bonus for travelers. This is an excellent product to provide photographers multiple outlets for battery charging while minimizing space and weight." - Kevin P. Roe
4) Sleep Headsets

5) JBL Clip 3

Always wanted to sing in the showers or anywhere but your iPhone or Samsung isn't doing justice to Cats track you're belting out? Well, the JBL Clip 3 ($65) might just be the thing you need. It is not only ultra-light, making it super portable, but it is also waterproof. It also boasts up to 10 hour of battery life, not too bad at all for a mini device like this. Hang it in your shower and you're all set for your bathroom-karaoke!
"I love everything about this speaker especially the waterproof feature I put this in my pool to test it and I had to put a rock over it because it floats in the water I left it there for 2 freakin days then I decided to pull it out then I pressed the power button and it still is functional best speaker ever" - Anonymous
6) Automatic Bottle Opener
"Purchased it recently and can now open my cans easily with this auto bottle opener. Convenient and hassle-free!" - Anonymous
7) Amazon Echo Dot

8) Fabric Shaver
"It is really so good. I recommended it to my friends and family" - helloicemilo " I've been using this for at least 6 months and am impressed how effective it is. It's impressive how much lint it actually removed - visible in the collection container. I've own cheaper versions that were much less effective and broke." - Zebra
You have heard of a lint brush, but have you ever heard of fabric shaver? The fabric shaver works in a similar way as the lint brush, in that it helps to remove excess fuzz that makes your garments look dull and frayed. The difference? It is battery operated, and saves all the busy working people like us a lot of time doing the manual work. Functioning like a mini vacuum cleaner, the fabric shaver sucks up and removes all the fabric pills from all types of garment with the click of a button, making it look brand new in no time at all. Life-saver really!

9) Electric Arc Lighter
"Worth it for the environment! Charges up fast and is able to light candles fast as well. Incense might take awhile. Note to remove lighter when it's fully charged." - projecktoverhaul " Item lights up with a flip of the bonnet and then just holding the button down. Very easy to use, and completely resistant to wind. We are already using this a lot in our family, and I'm very excited to get even more use out of it." - Smylie
Tired of your gas lighters running out of fuel, and not a match stick in sight? You have got to try the electric arc lighter, which does not require fuel or an open flame, and is also environmentally friendly! With built-in powerful USB Rechargeable Li-ion battery, the lighter works by creating a small electrical arc between two electrodes that is much hotter than a flame and is windproof. It also has a 360 degree rotation neck, which helps prevent your hands from being burned. No more nasty gas and burning smells~

10) LED Strip Light

11 ) Aukey Mobile Phone Holder

Secure your phone to your car's AC vent with the Aukey Mobile Phone Holder ($7). Its ultra-strong magnets will make sure you'll never have to fumble for your phone (when it is on Google Maps) as it drops for the nth time after going over a hump.
" I used this product to keep my coffee warm in the morning because I work at home so I can just put my coffee down and it would just keep it warm. It is very easy to clean up if you spill your drink on it. This is also easy to use, just have to click the button, it turns on, and it starts warming up. You can also gift this to other people if you would like because it is absolutely giftable. I give this a overall of 5 stars for it's incredible help!" - Mykhailo
12) Mug Warmer

13) Bamboo Desktop Charging Dock
"Whoever visits my apartment and especially the room, they compliment due to this beautiful product. I am going to gift it my mother since she got all the Apple products and it's ideal for them." - Prasad F
Ever wondered how nice it would be if you can charge your phone and watch your dramas at the same time, without your arms aching after holding your hands in an upright position the whole time? This Bamboo desktop charging dock ($20) will do the job! The sturdy stand has 4 built-in USB ports and a special cutout for Apple Watch charger and cable, allowing you to charge multiple devices at the same time. Bonus points for its unique style and compact and sleek appearance~

14) Target Toilet Light
"Whoever visits my apartment and especially the room, they compliment due to this beautiful product. I am going to gift it my mother since she got all the Apple products and it's ideal for them." - Prasad F
If you're fed up about having to clean up the mess because of your brother's lousy aiming skills (*ahem*), or simply want to teach your young ones some proper toilet etiquette, get this tongue-in-cheek toilet target light ($7.05)! Attach it to the top of your toilet seat cover and you are good to go~ Let's pray that there won't be any mishaps after this.

15) Pet Camera With Treat Tossing
" I bought this item for my girlfriend who is deployed overseas in Bahrain. She loves her dog more than anything so I knew this would be a perfect gift for her. The first night I had the Furbo I was awaken several times in the middle of the night by high pitched squealing and giggling of glee from my gf not being able to contain herself. She was so excited to see him, talk to him and give him treats and OH BOY does she like giving him treats! By the time she gets back from her deployment I am sure he will be overweight and wont be able to run to her when she gets home. Thanks Furbo, your product is awesome and we all love it!" - Maria
Do you always miss your pets when you are at work, and feel guilty for leaving them at home? With this smart pet camera ($300), you will feel a little closer to home. The 1080p built-in camera has a 160 degree wide-angle view for you to monitor your pets and know exactly what they are doing. There is even a 2-way chat and barking alert system which sends push notifications to your phone when it detects barking. You are then able to talk to them and calm them down via the app, how amazing is this! On top of that, this camera also has the ability to toss treats to your dog. Simply place an Alexa beside the camera and give the command to toss treats whenever you think your little one has been a good boy. Say bye bye to separation anxiety~

What other cool products have you bought or tried? Let us know in the comments below!

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15 Cool Gadgets That You Never Knew Existed

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Enough of watching YouTube videos about the top 10 gadgets people are buying on Amazon, because #1, it is extremely difficult to get these gadgets and #2, some of these gadgets aren't actually that cool. So, we've done the tedious work for you and have filtered through these tech reviews.