See how Singapore Poly students apply the principles of design thinking to improve the lives of villagers in Mata Ikan. Imagine this: A village slipping into poverty as their livelihood of sand trade is threatened with a sand export ban, while abandoned sand quarries become infested with mosquitoes.
With limited resources, simple tools such as PVC pipes, nets, wood were used to build the fish cages and floating pontoon. Using PVC pipes was an innovation that was tested in the project.
While it may not scream ‘business opportunity’ to most, a team of 11 Singapore Polytechnic (SP) students managed to see a new beginning for the villagers of Mata Ikan, Indonesia.
The students from different disciplines formed a design thinking lab as part of the polytechnic’s Student in Free Enterprise Initiative. They put into practice design thinking principles that combined logic and creativity to tackle the villagers’ woes.
Quality of the pond water was monitored for data analysis to find solutions to encourage healthy fish growth.
The team wanted to transform the quarries into a fish farm which would provide a steady source of income for the villagers. But they hit numerous roadblocks, such as contaminated water seeping into the quarries, and lack of funds to buy sophisticated tools and materials.
But eventually, using the multi-disciplinary approach of design thinking, they came up with innovative solutions. To treat the contaminated water, for example, they created a filtration system out of local materials like coconut husks, and leftover materials from the construction of the fish farm.
Ten days later, the fish farm was up and running, and the team was already looking at other ways to diversify the villagers’ income.
The initial phase consisted the testing of fish cages, its maintenance programme, checking of pond water quality and suitability of the types of fish for commercial fish farming.
Beyond academia, SP set up DesignWorks Singapore (DWS) in collaboration with Rotman DesignWorks, part of the University of Toronto. Rotman is a centre for design-based innovation and education. Similarly, DWS offers consultation on design thinking to Singapore businesses. SP sent 24 staff from various Schools for a year of intensive training at Rotman so as to integrate design thinking into their students’ curriculum by the end of their training.
A second startup – the Live Well Collaborative Partnership with Procter and Gamble (P&G) and the University of Cincinnati, Ohio – was created in response to Asia’s ageing population. Using design thinking techniques, it is an innovation centre which helps corporations tap into new sources of business by targeting the needs of the ageing demographic.
The aim of the testing phase of the fish rearing project was to demonstrate its commercial viability and convince the local community that it can be a source of sustainable income for them.
Through the use and knowledge of design thinking, SP’s Principal, Mr Tan Hang Cheong, hopes that its graduates will not only have deep specialist knowledge and analytical skills, but also broad multi-disciplinary knowledge and intuition. Design thinking will be the game-changer that can distinguish SP’s graduates in the workplace, says Mr Tan.
Indeed, how many of us can lay claim to setting up an operational fish farm in 10 days? If the project at Mata Ikan (“fish eye” in Malay) is anything to go by, design thinking has an eye on a promising future in the way businesses create and innovate.