About DT|UX Summit
Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious and discerning in their buying habits, placing greater emphasis on the process behind their purchases. As a result, businesses have shifted their priorities, choosing suppliers or partners who embody green and fair practices in their operations, and redefining the value they bring to their stakeholders.
While Human-Centred Innovation has helped many businesses to win with their consumers, how else can they navigate issues of sustainability and business growth?
This year’s DT|UX Summit theme is “Moving towards Humanity-Centred Innovation Strategies to Design for Sustainability and Drive Business Growth.” Discover how industry champions and thought leaders are working to achieve better sustainability and business growth by leveraging the larger framework of Humanity-Centred Innovation.
Keynote Speakers
Guest-of-Honour
Low Yen Ling | Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry
Adrien Desbaillets
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer at SaladStop! Group
Adrien Desbaillets is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the SaladStop! Group. Having grown up in the hospitality industry in Asia, Adrien and his father felt a need for healthier food options in Singapore in 2009.
This escalated into a vision of bringing something innovative, fresh, and tasty to increasingly discerning and health-conscious people.
Today, the SaladStop! Group operates three core brands with over 70 outlets across Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, and soon Australia! The Group also launched GoodFoodPeople, a plant-based grocer earlier this year.
Adrien is a Cornell University graduate and worked as a consultant in the hospitality industry for many years. Adrien most recently held the position of Vice-President – Development and Acquisitions with Kingdom Hotel Investments, spearheading all investment opportunities for the group in China.
Jaspreet Kochhar
Director, Research & Development at Procter & Gamble
Dr. Jaspreet Singh Kochhar, is a pharmaceutical scientist based in Singapore. He graduated with a PhD from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and is currently leading Research and Development at Procter & Gamble HealthCare at Singapore Innovation Centre.
He has a Bachelor of Pharmacy from University of Delhi and is a registered pharmacist with Delhi Pharmacy Council, India.
Jaspreet leads New Product Development for Vicks at P&G, where he is responsible for conceiving new product ideas to market launch traversing the journey of a product’s life starting from consumer research, supporting product claims for consumers, and in market launch with pharmacists and medical professionals.
Jaspreet has experience working with medical professionals, updating them on the science behind P&G’s products, developing scientific publications and professional dissemination materials.
He has a keen interest in pharmaceutical formulation and new product development. He has been actively involved in microneedle- based delivery of drugs and cosmetics through the skin. He has authored 2 books, over 20 peer reviewed articles and was awarded the Best Graduate Researcher in Pharmacy for 2013 by the Faculty of Science, NUS.
He is an avid reader, traveler, sustainability crusader – and keenly observes and follows new trends that drive innovation.
Plenary Session
What strategies can businesses adopt to cope with the future business landscape in the era of sustainability?
Join us as we sit down with Don Norman, touted as the founding father of user experience design, at our plenary session together with Marisa Magrasut, the Managing Partner at The Inceptery, Maish Nichani, the Co-founder and Principal of PebbleRoad and Kelly Tan, the Deputy Director at DesignSingapore Council.
This panel will explore how we can take practical steps to expand user centric design to be more inclusive of the ecology, creating positive social impacts while ensuring economic viability. In other words, how can humanity-centred design help us to overcome the challenges that we have today and achieve greater sustainability.
Don Norman
Co-Founder & Principal of Nielson Norman Group
Named by Business Week as “one of the world’s most influential designers,” Don is a distinguished academic (with three honorary degrees) as well as a senior business executive. He has served as a vice president of Advanced Technology at Apple, an executive at HP, and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, a consulting firm that promotes human-centered products and services.
He has taught at Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, and UC San Diego, where he founded the Department of Cognitive Science. Although he retired early when he went to Apple, he returned to San Diego when the Chancellor went to his home in Palo Alto to lure him back to San Diego to start the Design Lab. This, in turn, was the driving force behind the major campaign that led to San Diego/Tijuana recently being named the world design capital for 2024 by the World Design Organization.
Don is a prolific author of 21 books, with translations into over 20 languages. His latest, most ambitious book is “Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered” where he argues that because design “got us into our current mess, it is design that can get us out, though not the way design is conceived of and practiced today.”
Marisa Agrasut
Managing Partner at The Inceptery
Marisa blends management and leadership of strategic design and innovation. Her work across disciplines is broad – supporting organisations to understand, apply and leverage frameworks and methodologies to optimise value creation; from consulting to co-creating, with Fortune 500’s, national ministries, non/not-just-for-profits and SMEs.
In 2009 Marisa embarked on her first sustainability-led business model venture, shifting the negative perception of plant-based eating; enabling reduced-carbon diets and responsible consumption – supporting organic farmers, through a (then) pioneering circularity, systems-thinking based business.
In 2016, co-founded The Inceptery, an innovation firm working at the edge of conventional boundaries and assumptions, challenging notions of success in our current paradigm – focusing on systemic value creation. A graduate in Strategic Design Management, she harbours a fascination with the limitless power of intentionality, giving a voice to underrepresented users, and externalising creative processes collectively – bringing about new consciousness, solutions, and businesses alongside technology to improve human-planetary conditions.
Maish Nichani
Co-founder & Principal of PebbleRoad
Maish Nichani is co-founder and principal of PebbleRoad, a design, strategy, and innovation practice based in Singapore. Maish is a well-respected thought leader and practitioner in innovation and design, with over 20 years of experience working in various organisations.
His goal is to help business leaders leverage digital innovation to achieve sustainable growth. Maish’s expertise includes new product development, corporate venture building, and digital business transformation.
Kelly Tan
Deputy Director at DesignSingapore Council
Kelly Tan is a passionate advocate for human-centered innovation. With a belief that technical expertise alone is not enough, she champions the unique qualities that make us human—creativity, empathy, critical thinking, and collaboration—as the differentiators in an ever-changing world.
Through her background in social science, hospitality and design, she has developed into a resilient problem solver who embraces failure as an opportunity for growth. Kelly places great importance on diversity and empathy, recognising them as the fundamental building blocks for positive change and enabling her to connect with people from all walks of life.
Above all, Kelly’s mission is to inspire individuals to nurture their interpersonal skills, embrace their creative potential, and leverage design to create meaningful and lasting impact. She envisions a future that values and celebrates our shared humanity.
Admission Fee
In lieu of charging admission fees, we are inviting you to donate to SP Needy Fund. With this donation, we will be able to help existing students who are in need of financial support to pursue an education with us.
Programme
| TIME | ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| 0905 | Welcome Address by Mr. Soh Wai Wah, Principal & CEO, Singapore Polytechnic |
| 0925 | Launch of DT|UX Learning Journey |
| 0930 | MOU Signing Ceremony |
| 0940 | Keynote Address by Mr. Adrien Desbaillets on “Driving Sustainability through HCI in Businesses” |
| 1000 | Keynote Address by Mr. Jaspreet Kochhar on “Enabling Sustainable Social Impact with HCI” |
| 1020 | Metaverse of DTUX Learning Journey Presentation by Erectrus |
| 1030 | Plenary Discussion with Don Norman on “What strategies can businesses adopt to cope with the future business landscape in the era of sustainability?” |
| 1145 | Lunch |
| 1330 | DTUX Learning Journey Showcase Venue: SP Library @ Level 4A Regional Consortium Showcase Venue: SP Library @ Colours, Level 1 |
| 1500 | Afternoon Refreshments Venue: Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre |
| 1530 | Fireside Chat with Don Norman on “Redesigning Skills for Humanity-Centred Design Towards Sustainability” Venue: Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre |
| 1600 | End of DT|UX Summit 2023 |
DT|UX Learning Journey
SP Library @ Level 4A, 1330 – 1400 / 1430 – 1500
Experience the DT|UX Learning Journey, a captivating multimedia showcase of Singapore Polytechnic’s Innovation Framework that is fuelled by Humanity-Centred Innovation. Discover how SP has transformed organisations in Singapore and Southeast Asia and explore the beginning of your own innovation journey. Uncover the impact of design thinking on people, planet, processes, products, and profitability, and gain insight into how this framework can help your organisation be future-ready. With a focus on humanity-centred innovation, the DT|UX Learning Journey provides a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of design thinking and user experience, and how they could empower your organisation to drive innovation and growth.
Fireside Chat with Don Norman
Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre , 1530 - 1700
NEW SLOTS AVAILABLE! Register now. For participants who have previously signed up for the morning plenary, please check your emails for instructions to sign up for the Fireside Chat
Regional Consortium Showcase
SP Library @ Colours, Level 1, 1330 - 1500
Join representatives from 3 prominent South East Asian universities in sharing of valuable insights and key concepts generated from a series of Temasek Foundation-funded workshops developed and conducted by SP’s User Experience Centre that focus on “Building a Healthy Nation” and foster a better tomorrow.
Limited seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.