and Policy Lab Bootcamp
When the invitation from the Design Center of the Philippines arrived for their "Design Thinking Academy + Policy Lab Bootcamp" event, it was entirely forgivable to wonder what the event would be all about. Many attractive words, each comprehensible individually; however, strung together, they would arguably perplex a lot of people in terms of their collective significance.
For some time now, the Design Center of the Philippines has been advocating the realization that design is an integral part of everyday life, serving practical, utilitarian purposes. It extends beyond the "castle in the air" concept often associated with futuristic structures, high fashion, or esoteric art. Design can be found in a simple park bench, an ergonomic computer chair/table set, or even a bicycle.
In tandem with this, there is a recognition of the natural gift Filipinos possess for design. The aim is to further cultivate this talent, positioning the Philippines as a creative hub in Southeast Asia, ready to serve the rest of the world in this digital age. While not explicitly stated, the Academy and Bootcamp, along with the "partnership" with Prof. Ulrich Weinberg of the Hasso-Plattner-Institut in Berlin, appear to be part of a concerted effort to push the envelope. This involves strengthening our Philippine design innovation ecosystem and empowering the Design Center's beneficiaries with enhanced knowledge, skills, and a competitive mindset. The goal is to assess our standing against the global landscape and elevate our standards.
For DCP Executive Director Maria Rita Matute, this was about, “… empowering our target beneficiaries to thrive despite the ever-growing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguous world that we live in.”
And as Prof. Weinberg reinforced, “Design Thinking is a mindset and approach for developing innovative and life-centered solutions to complex problems in collaborative teams. It creates an agile learning and working culture… and (to) be sustainable in periods of digital transformation. Design Thinking offers the chance of finding simple solutions for complex problems. In contrast, the uniform thinking of many top-class experts often means potentiating similar options.”
Menarco Corporation Founder and CEO Carmen Jimenez-Ong and DTI Competitiveness and Innovation Group Director Lilian Salonga both spoke during the media launch, and they saw this as a wonderful opportunity to "open the door," and steer the nation towards a future where Design Thinking could become a national competency, propelling design as a key drive of competitiveness and innovation, thus laying the groundwork for sustained growth.
The Academy could very well mark a new chapter in Philippine innovation; and given how the latest trends in AI could very well stymie the established growth trends of particular dollar-earning industries of today, we would do well to explore such avenues. Last thing we want is to be caught unaware, when particular "wells" start drying up.
Mylene Abiva from Women’s Business Council and Reese Fernandez of Rags2Riches joined the lively and engaging panel discussion that followed the talk of Prof. Weinberg. Held at the Menarco Tower at BGC, this made Carmen Jimenez-Ong our "host," and it was good to hear how the building is the very first building in the country to have received a WELL certification, with an unbelievable score of 98/100. “Technologically advanced, energy-efficient, with safe and healthy spaces,” are the best ways to describe what that score translates to.
We all look forward to what this Academy and Bootcamp can achieve in the near future, and how this sort of investment pans out to help position our country as a Creative Hub.