DESIGN FUTURES FORUM 2024

Lindsey McInerney

Lindsey McInerney is a highly-regarded futurist and technologist, a globally sought-after speaker, consultant, and educator on tech’s biggest stages, and the Founder and CEO of Black Sun Labs, helping executives, brands, and personalities comprehend and optimise cutting-edge technologies. As Global Head of Technology and Innovation at the world’s largest brewer AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch), Lindsey led one of the first major brand executions in the metaverse, breaking new ground for the consumer market goods sector. She is also Co-Founder & CEO of Sixth Wall, the digital arm of actress Mila Kunis’ Orchard Farm Productions, exploring the intersection of technology and entertainment.

Cathy Hackl

Popularly known in tech circles as the Godmother of the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl is a globally recognised tech and gaming executive, futurist, and speaker focused on spatial computing, virtual worlds, augmented reality, AI, & gaming platforms strategy. She is the co-CEO of Spatial Dynamics, a spatial computing and AI solutions company & a top tech voice on LinkedIn. Cathy has spoken at platforms such as Harvard Business School, MIT, SXSW and the World Economic Forum. She has been a fixture in the world of immersive technology for almost a decade and has been featured in the likes of 60 Minutes, CNN, GQ, Time, The Economist and Bloomberg.

Alex Govoreanu

Alex Govoreanu is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Questo, a platform revolutionising urban exploration through interactive, self-guided tours. Since its launch, Questo has expanded its reach to over 1000 cities globally, transforming city sightseeing into engaging, gamified experiences. Alex has been recognised as a Young Leader in Travel by Phocuswright, showcasing his influence and contributions to the travel and tech industries.

Jeremy Ang

Jeremy is the Global Technology Alliance Director and Strategy Advisor at BytePlus, ByteDance’s enterprise technology arm. The company provides cutting-edge enterprise capabilities such as recommendation algorithms, advanced computer vision and other machine learning solutions. He also frequently advises media companies in revitalising their platform with low-latency video technology and User-Generated Content (UGC) to improve viewer experience and monetisation. Jeremy also currently serves as the Honorary Treasurer of Singapore’s largest technology association (SGTech).

Philipp Kandal

Philipp Kandal, Grab’s Chief Product Officer, leads the Product, Design, Analytics, and Geo business teams, focusing on delivering trusted and loved products. He joined Grab in 2019 to lead the engineering and data science teams for Geo, eventually heading the entire Geo organization. Under his leadership, Grab launched GrabMaps. His scope was expanded to also oversee the Fulfillment product and tech teams in 2022. Prior to Grab, Philipp co-founded Skobbler, later acquired by Telenav, and served as Senior VP for Engineering, where his team focused on connected car space innovations.

Debra Langley

Debra Langley is an experienced leader in fashion, retail, and technology. She is a Venture Partner at Lyra Ventures and Senior Advisor to LABEL Ventures, and also provides expertise to pioneering tech ventures reshaping fashion and culture. She serves on the board of WRAP, is a member of the advisory boards for the DesignSingapore Council and Vogue Singapore, and is a participant in the Innovation Advisory Committee of the National Retail Federation (US).

Boonserm Premthada

Boonserm Premthada founded the architecture firm, Bangkok Project Studio, in 2003. He began his career as an educator in 1996 at Chulalongkorn University. In 2023 he was Dean’s Visiting Assistant Professor at Columbia University, GSAPP and Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Hong Kong. Born and raised in a slum in the heart of Bangkok, Premthada is 70 percent deaf and had never studied abroad. His ideas thus stay uninfluenced like a ‘wild orchid’ that grows without any shade or domination by theories. Premthada’s works focus on nature and humanity – a message that is conveyed through materials, structures, and construction processes, and uses the fundamental asset of human and non-human intuition in his design.

Hwang Yu-Ning

Ms Hwang is CEO of the National Parks Board. She has over 20 years of experience in public service including with the Urban Redevelopment Authority as Singapore’s Chief Planner and stints in the Strategy Group of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development

Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler

Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler founded mischer‘traxler studio, an artistic design practice based in Vienna, in 2009. Known for balancing handcraft and technology, their work explores the relationship between humans and nature through unique object design, interactive art, and installations. Their interactive installations engage audiences with storytelling and thought-provoking themes, demonstrating that design can be functionalSpeakers & Segment Curator, beautiful, and meaningful. Their work is part of permanent museum collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Vitra Design Museum, the MK&G Hamburg, the MUDAC Lausanne, and the MAK Vienna.

Mitchell Joachim

Mitchell Joachim is the co-founder of Terreform ONE and Professor of Practice at New York University. Formerly, he was an architect at the offices of Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and fellowships with TED, Moshe Safdie, and Martin Society for Sustainability, MIT. He was chosen by Wired magazine for “The Smart List” and selected by Rolling Stone for “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”. He has co-authored four books, “Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities,” “XXL-XS: New Directions in Ecological Design,” “Super Cells: Building with Biology,” and “Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned”. His design work has also been exhibited at MoMA and the Venice Biennale.

Zac Toh

Zac spent his childhood in his father’s nurseries, plucking weeds, propagating plants, driving forklifts and bobcats. The nursery is his second home, having spent a large part of his childhood there, playing and working alongside his father and brother. These fond memories as a child sowed the seeds in Zac that led him to a thriving career in the green industry today.

Aric Chen

Aric Chen is General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands’ national museum and institute for architecture, design, and digital culture, in Rotterdam. Chen previously served as Professor and founding Director of the Curatorial Lab at the College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai; Curatorial Director of the Design Miami fairs in Miami Beach and Basel; Creative Director of Beijing Design Week; and Lead Curator for Design and Architecture at M+, Hong Kong, where he oversaw the formation of the museum’s design and architecture collection and programme.

Claudia Poh

Claudia founded Werable, an inclusive brand that makes fashion easy to wear for every body. Her vision is to shape a kinder, more inclusive tomorrow. Her venture into adaptive fashion began when she crafted a coat for a friend with ALS. From hands-free dressing systems to innovative designs that can be worn single-handedly by stroke survivors, Claudia is an award-winning designer with a deep focus on social innovation. She believes that style and function are not mutually exclusive, and that everyone desires the same properties in their clothing, with or without a disability.

Dr Esther Sternberg

Internationally recognised mind-body science, place and wellbeing pioneer, author of award-winning “WELL at WORK: Creating Wellbeing in Any Workspace”, Dr Esther Sternberg is Research Director, Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, Inaugural Andrew Weil Chair for Research in Integrative Medicine, with joint appointments in Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture. She has advised the World Health Organization, U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Royal Society, and the Vatican. Her research is informing U.S. Federal Government post-COVID re-entry healthy design standards.

Professor Jeanne Tan

Jeanne is Professor of Fashion and Textiles at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Founder of GERI Ltd. She is a design practitioner who investigates creative innovations that interfaces design and technology. Jeanne’s research focuses on intelligent textile design for fashion, interiors, rehabilitation, and Design-Led STEM processes. She is passionate about transforming conventionally passive materials into interactive platforms that enhance experiences and well-being.

J R Karthikeyan

As CEO, Karthik drives AWWA’s overarching strategy and operations which span 27 services that operate out of 15 locations, supported by over 1,000 staff. Under Karthik’s leadership, AWWA has garnered three Charity Transparency Awards. Karthik is an accomplished Social Service Fellow, and is a member of the Allied Health Professions Council. Karthik serves as a Board Director of the Special Needs Trust Company and TTSH Community Fund. Karthik is an alumni of Harvard’s General Management Program, and he holds a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, and a Master of Science in Fitness, Exercise Rehabilitation and Nutrition Care.

Muchaneta ten Napel

Muchaneta ten Napel is the founder of Shape Innovate, an organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between policy-making and the fashion industry. She has spoken at events like the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen and both COP27 and COP28 on the UGIH stage. She chairs the Culture and Creative Industries (CCI) Taskforce and the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub, and in academia, she is a lecturer at the London College of Fashion, UAL. She has also spoken at the prestigious Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and additionally, she has contributed to research projects led by the UKRI Interdisciplinary Textiles Circularity Centre, Royal College of Art.

Professor Wong Hon Tym

Clinical Associate Professor Wong Hon Tym is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) with a Master’s degree in Medicine (Ophthalmology). He is the Clinical Director of the Centre for Healthcare Innovation and a Senior Consultant in Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Ophthalmology Department, which he led from 2006 to 2015. He was the past Medical Director of the NHG Eye Institute from 2011 to 2022, and the Pro-Tem Chief of Ophthalmology Dept of Woodlands Health from 2018 to 2020. His key areas of focus are glaucoma, tele-ophthalmology, primary eye care, systems level care transformation, technology adoption, sustainability and leadership development.

Tamsin Greulich-Smith

Tamsin Greulich-Smith is Director of School of X at the DesignSingapore Council, building learners’ design skills whilst tackling social challenges. She leads the Council’s Design X Care work, and is faculty at the Centre for Healthcare Innovation. She was previously founding Chief of the “Smart Health Leadership Centre” at the National University of Singapore, where she used digital data and design to transform health outcomes. In the UK, she ran an innovation firm specialising in strategic design across public and private sectors. She began her career in the first jointly-funded role between London’s Barnet Council and Barnet Health Authority, pioneering integrated care initiatives.

Ziqq Rafit

Ziqq Rafit is a design strategist, scholar and educator focusing on social change and responsible design. He is the appointed Global Pillar Lead for Gen-AI Ethics & Governance within EY wavespace™️, where he helps businesses solve problems through the lens of design and innovation. Ziqq holds a double masters in MA/MSc Global Innovation Design and currently teaches Design Innovation at Singapore Institute of Technology.

Reginé Gilbert

Reginé Gilbert is a James Weldon Johnson Professor at New York University who is highly respected for her leadership, expertise, and influence in design, education, and authorship. Reginé is driven by a profound commitment to fostering a more accessible world, firmly rooted in user-centric principles from start to finish. Her research endeavors center around digital accessibility, inclusive design, and immersive experiences, exploring ways to create inclusive digital environments. In 2019, Reginé published her debut book, “Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind,” which was warmly received by industry professionals and readers alike, published under Apress Publishing. Notably, she is also collaborating with Doug North Cook on an upcoming book titled “Human Spatial Computing,” slated for publication by Oxford University Press in 2024.

Ben Bowes

A seasoned design leader with nearly two decades of experience, Ben Bowes is the Head of Design at Open Government Products, where he leads an experimental development team that builds technology for the public good. His passion for raising design standards in the public sector is fuelled by the conviction that users are people first.

Dr Farah Shiraz

Dr Farah Shiraz has a PhD in Psychology and over 20 years of experience within the mental health sector both in research and in a clinical context. Having worked in several global markets, Dr Shiraz is currently based in Copenhagen where she focuses on digital innovation within the mental health field. One of her key projects is the HEKA VR project, which utilises virtual reality is to aid patients with schizophrenia suffering from auditory hallucinations. Khora is developing the core software to support this novel treatment. Dr Shiraz is passionate about the utilisation of new innovative methods within the mental health field, specifically the use of virtual and augmented reality technology.

Ice Zhao Bing

Ice is currently a Design Lead at Unity Technologies, delivering professional services to enterprise clients. With over 10 years of experience, she specialises in UI/UX design and has led several digital twin projects in the APAC region. Ice has collaborated with clients such as Hyundai, Kawasaki, and Obayashi. She also teaches product design at the Nanyang Technological University and is passionate about leveraging new tools and techniques to push the boundaries of spatial UI/UX Design.

Mark Foo

Mark Foo is a seasoned senior technical consultant with extensive experience in cloud technology and enterprise solutions. Based in Singapore, he leads the JAPAC Solutions Consulting team at Figma, helping customers optimise their use of Figma’s suite of products. Previously, at Meta, he drove key initiatives for signal resiliency, Collaborative Ads, and Workplace from Meta. At Google, he spent time delivering strategic technical solutions across the UK, Scandinavia, and APAC with Google Cloud.

Megan Bednarczyk

Megan Bednarczyk is a designer and avid marathon runner living in Brooklyn. She led the design of Duolingo’s newest AI-powered subscription tier, Duolingo Max, from concept to launch – and continues to lead the Max team in transforming language education with generative AI. Before Duolingo, she led product design at Geneva, a startup that helped groups build online communities. She has previously worked on projects with clients ranging from HBO Max and Audible to JP Morgan and Amex.

Samantha Lee

Samantha Lee is an interaction designer and developer. Her niche skill is bringing to life all the details and magic through prototypes, that don’t just work – they live, breathe, and occasionally crack a joke. She is currently working on public interest tech. Graphic design is her love language.

Tobias Ahlin

Tobias Ahlin is a designer, engineer, and speaker from Sweden who has lectured in 20 countries. He works as a Principal Product Designer at GitHub, the world’s largest development platform, where he works on GitHub Copilot. Before his time at GitHub, Tobias was the Experience Design Director at Mojang, where he led the interaction design for the world’s best-selling game of all time – Minecraft. Prior to that, he was an early designer at Spotify, where he worked closely with the leadership team to bring Spotify from a small Scandinavian startup to the world’s most popular music streaming service.

Dr Chris Lim

Adj Asst Prof (Dr) Chris Lim is an Ophthalmic surgeon and leads the National University Health System Ophthalmology cluster’s sustainability efforts. He serves as a clinical adjunct assistant professor with the Centre for Sustainable Medicine of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Chris has received multiple awards and accolades for his research, teaching and mentorship efforts. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications and multiple textbook chapters to date.

Ivonne Bojoh

After 25+ years at start-ups and scale-ups in Europe and Southeast Asia, Ivonne committed to facilitating a socially just transition to an economic state where the planet and all living beings can thrive. Ivonne joined Circle Economy because they had uncovered, through rigorous research, that circular economy strategies can reverse planetary boundary overshoots and mitigate climate breakdown. Ivonne’s personal mission is to catalyse change in 10000 companies, 1000 cities, and 100 nations, driving them towards a more sustainable future.

Kana Lauren Chan

Kana is the Co-founder and Director of INOW, an educational tourism programme based in Kamikatsu, the first “Zero Waste Village” in Japan. In 2021, she was selected as an Emerging Climate Leader Asia-Pacific through the ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme hosted by UN University – Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability and Social Innovation Japan. Kana cares deeply about climate action, sustainable tourism, and education.

Karlijn Sibbel

Karlijn has a mixed expertise in design, science, and engineering that fuels her passion for developing natural materials from unexpected, widely available sources that address urgent environmental challenges like climate change and pollution. From transforming mining waste into batteries to crafting architectural materials from salt, Karlijn bridges disciplines to bring novel technologies to life. At Notpla, Karlijn works as Innovation Director, strategizing and coordinating Innovation activities with a multidisciplinary team to develop the next generations of Notpla products and materials.

Ar. Leong Tatt Man

Ar. Leong Tatt Man is a founding member of The Circle for Human Sustainability (TCHS) and director at Tierra Design Studio. Ar. Leong has led numerous planning, architecture and landscape design projects successfully throughout his career. However, he questions the current economic model of the real estate industry. He is a strong believer in creating a better future by design, and that such design must respect Limits to Growth.

Dr Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan

Dr Srilalitha (Sri) Gopalakrishnan is the Associate Director Research at the Future Cities Laboratory Global, Singapore-ETH Centre. Her research interests focus on the performance of integrated landscape design in high-density urban environments for resilient and sustainable urban design solutions. She has published and presented her research in several journals and conferences, including International Journal on Smart and Sustainable Cities and Nature Scientific Reports. Her research has also been exhibited at international platforms, including the Singapore National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023.

Wendy Chua

Wendy Chua is an interdisciplinary design researcher, curator, and educator. As a design anthropologist, she mediates across fields to negotiate new forms of design practices in response to social and climate-related issues. Through her practice Forest and Whale, Wendy has designed products, services, and experiences that redefine how people live, age, and gather. She leads the new programme BA (Hons) Design for Social Futures at LASALLE | UAS. Selected for the EU STARTS art-science residency, she is currently exploring toxic algal blooms through VR for the TAT Museum in Berlin.

Dr Ying Seow

Dr Ying Seow has over 15 years of experience in developing sustainability approaches for businesses. With a PhD in sustainable manufacturing and a background in product design engineering, she has driven eco-friendly innovations across sectors, from consumer goods to major infrastructure projects. Ying combines creative thinking with data-driven approaches to develop solutions that create positive impact for the environment, people, and communities. She is currently leading the development of the sustainability strategy for the UK’s Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme.

Claudia Poh

Claudia founded Werable, an inclusive brand that makes fashion easy to wear for every body. Her vision is to shape a kinder, more inclusive tomorrow. Her venture into adaptive fashion began when she crafted a coat for a friend with ALS. From hands-free dressing systems to innovative designs that can be worn single-handedly by stroke survivors, Claudia is an award-winning designer with a deep focus on social innovation. She believes that style and function are not mutually exclusive, and that everyone desires the same properties in their clothing, with or without a disability.

Eason Yang

Eason Yang is a designer, speaker, educator, creative director, and social innovator. After overcoming cancer but being labelled “unhireable,” he founded Not Entirely Dead (NED) to support cancer survivors with life and work transitions. Becoming the face of professional comebacks, he is a leading designer in social innovation, with Fast Company naming NED a World Changing Idea and Most Innovative Design in 2023. Eason also teaches design, mentors young creatives, and speaks globally, reshaping the narrative around work and health.

Dr Liew Li Lian

Li Lian began her medical career in Internal Medicine and Community Care with the National Healthcare Group after graduating from the University of Liverpool in 2000. She has battled SARS, H1N1, and COVID-19 as a medical officer, Operations Manager and Operations Centre Commander.

Before becoming the CEO of Dover Park Hospice in April 2023, Li Lian was a Director at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Li Lian holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and a Master of Public Health from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore.

Pilar Diaz Gonzalez

Pilar Diaz Gonzalez is the CEO of Femography at MAS Holdings, the largest apparel tech innovator and manufacturer in South Asia. Femography at MAS Holdings partners with leading global brands to innovate and manufacture functional apparel solutions that cater to women’s wellbeing and care. Originally from Spain, Diaz Gonzalez has a global and multicultural background. She has 25 years of experience in different industries, ranging from FMCG to the apparel industry, with a focus on female health and wellbeing in the areas of strategy, innovation and commercialisation.

Proud Patanavanich

Proud runs the Service Design driven Innovation team at MedPark Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Proud’s team played a key role during the peak of Covid-19, implementing digital workflows for testing and registering over 300,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccination for Thai residents. Her team also built the first hospital mobile app in Thailand to allow real-time confirmation for appointments. Her team has undergone a transformative journey, from Patient Experience to an Innovation team that practices agile development, service design, co-creation, and continuous experience design research.

Zhang Ting-Ting

Zhang Ting-Ting, CEO of Singapore Fashion Council (SFC), having previously served as the Sustainability Director. Through SFC, she creates meaningful international and regional networks to drive sustainable practices in the fashion value-chain, from apparel manufacturing through to post-consumer textile sector. In 2024, she was invited to be part of the Expert Advisory Panel for The Earthshot Prize, in the “Build a Waste-Free World” category.
Ting-Ting’s educational background includes a Master of Architecture from Cornell University, and an MBA from Oxford University.