Design4impact Empowers Social Innovators With Holistic Support To Start Up And Scale Out Ground-up Initiatives

Those with a passion to help vulnerable communities will now have the capabilities and networks to do so, with the launch of the Design4Impact Community of Practice, supplemented with Mentorship and Incubation programmes.

1. At the third edition of the Design4Impact Pitch Day and Community Showcase, Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development & Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration, launched the Design4Impact (D4I) Innovators’ Ecosystem and Community of Practice (COP) to provide holistic support to individuals and groups with a keen interest to implement ground-up solutions aimed at improving the quality of life of communities around us.

2. Minister Lee highlighted the importance of D4I in Singapore’s efforts to strengthen social-health-community integration for vulnerable communities. He said, “Ground-up community initiatives complement the Government’s efforts to strengthen our social compact. D4I has fostered a culture of innovation, user-centric design and empowerment practices, so that we can better meet the needs in our community today, and anticipate the issues that will arise tomorrow. The D4I Community of Practice brings together like-minded community groups in a network to achieve social good.”

3. Since 2020, the D4I initiative – co-organised by MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT), National Council of Social Service (NCSS), School of X by DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and the Institute of Systems Science at National University of Singapore (NUS-ISS) – has brought together 400 individuals along with partners, solution providers, academics and facilitators to drive ground-up community solutions that address real world problems.

4. This year’s event with the theme “Uplifting Vulnerable Families in Singapore”, will see eight selected teams vie for the top three positions to each receive $10,000 seed grant to roll out their projects. CapitaLand Hope Foundation (CHF), the philanthropic arm of CapitaLand Group, is supporting the initiative for the first time by funding the seed grants for the winners to pilot their solutions for the community.

5. Mr Tan Seng Chai, Executive Director of CHF and Chief Corporate and People Officer of CapitaLand Investment, said: “Building an innovative culture has been key to driving CapitaLand forward in our journey to create sustainable value and make a positive impact. CapitaLand Hope Foundation is thus delighted to support this year’s edition of D4I to promote collaborative innovation for the greater good. We are confident that the D4I initiative will contribute towards improving the wellbeing of communities in a post-Covid world by tapping into the collective wisdom of Singapore’s social, health and community sectors.”

Design4Impact (D4I) Innovators’ Ecosystem and Community of Practice (COP)

6. D4I has paved the way for energetic individuals and groups who have a strong interest to make a positive impact in the community. With the successful completion of three editions of D4I, there is now a sizeable D4I alumni, supported by D4I’s vast network of partners and industry champions.

7. The Design4Impact (D4I) Innovators’ Ecosystem and Community of Practice (COP) will feature as a new collaboration platform for D4I alumni and social innovators to network, offer peer support and gain access to industry players from healthcare, social services, technology and design sectors. Network members can hone their skills in design thinking, tech capabilities and volunteer management, as well as to learn different aspects of pilot implementation such as business modelling, impact assessment and sustainability. In addition.

8. The COP offers opportunities for D4I alumni to connect with potential partners who can provide expertise and resources to implement and refine these solutions post-challenge, as well as interested non-profit organisations and community groups for volunteer and employment opportunities. To help current participants navigate their innovation journey, a group of 10 participants from previous editions of D4I and NCSS’ Sector Design Challenge have stepped up as COP core team members. The core team will research issues faced by social innovators; curate learning content, activities and expertise to solve these issues; and engage with D4I alumni and the wider ecosystem of innovators.

D4I Mentorship and Incubation programme

9. The D4I COP also includes a Mentorship programme with industry practitioners mentoring seed grant awardees as well as a new Incubation Programme designed by the Smart Health Leadership Centre of NUS-ISS to guide new seed grant awardees through a structured framework to implement and scale their pilots. The incubation programme, which will be launched in August 2023, will help awardees design whole-of-product concepts, conduct stakeholder mapping, build sustainable business models – taking into consideration start-up protocols such as IP, financing and commercialization.

Pilots primed for implementation and scaling

10. Since D4I started in 2020, six community pilots which have been implemented will potentially benefit hundreds of individuals, when scaled. At least five other ideas have received seed grants and are implementing their ideas. Work is ongoing to support the piloting efforts beyond the provision of funding, including industry mentor matching and linkages with community partners.

11. In Yuhua constituency, community leaders are exploring a model tapping on trained volunteers to befriend and take care of seniors, based on methodology from the D4I1’s BlockBox pilot. Garden2Gather, an initiative to start conversations on mental wellness through gardening as a hobby, was launched in Boon Lay in September 2022, with support from Boon Lay grassroots leaders. These are examples of how D4I-enabled precincts have now adopted and embedded a demonstrated activity in their local programming, with good potential for future sustainability.

12. This year’s Top 8 Finalists include (i) a mobile mentor app to impart financial management knowledge and career advice to at-risk youths; (ii) a reverse job fair that matches employers with persons with intellectual disability based on their strengths and abilities; (iii) a platform to help bereaved caregivers access grief support services, and upskilled for employment opportunities in caregiving circles; (iv) an initiative to provide safe and conducive spaces for children and youth from vulnerable families to study after school.