Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, SPH Media;

Mr Wong Wei Kong, Editor-in-Chief, English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, SPH Media;

Distinguished judges and industry partners;

Faculty, students and staff;

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning to everyone and a very warm welcome to the inaugural Design AI and Tech Awards by The Business Times and Singapore University of Technology and Design! The Design AI and Tech Award, or DAITA in short, is a collaborative initiative between BT and ����ɫ��, with ����ɫ�� serving as the knowledge partner.

To my mind, these Awards are not only timely, but also forward-looking.

As the world’s first Design AI university, ����ɫ�� is of the firm belief that Design and Artificial Intelligence will drive the future. As AI becomes more commonplace, questions that have plagued us since the advent of technology have become more pertinent. Never before has there been a technology with such immense potential. The power of large language models has opened up a whole new frontier for mankind.

In a wide-ranging interview with technologist Mr Bilawal Sidhu, recorded at TED 2025 on 11 April, former Google Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Mr Eric Schmidt makes the case that AI is wildly underhyped, as near-constant breakthroughs give rise to systems capable of doing even the most complex tasks on their own.

In ����ɫ��, we are making the bet that AI is not hype. If we were right, the opportunities for innovation would be staggering and we want to be the forerunner of this post-AI world. If we were wrong, the consequences are minor by comparison.

This is why ����ɫ�� made the pivot to AI. We believe the key to the AI evolution is how it is treated as a partner – one who is capable of exponentially increasing the quality and innovativeness of all solutioning – and not just a tool. This is what we call Design AI. It will define how we innovate going forward; it is also how we will craft the Future of Innovation – for the economy and for society.

With Design AI, humans and AI work together to find solutions to real-world problems. The difference between using AI as a tool and as a team player is that human team members no longer just instruct AI; they discuss, bounce ideas off it, and co-create together. At each stage of discussion, AI is able to elevate the solution several-fold so that the next stage of solutioning starts off on a higher plane. The end result is one that is infinitely more advanced and innovative compared to one that was purely dictated by human intelligence. All design innovations in ����ɫ�� end with a functioning prototype at the least if not a commercial product. We have the largest Fab Lab among all IHLs for this reason. There is no hallucination in our framing of Design AI, because our innovations are grounded in reality. A single human working with an AI without a connection to reality or working outside the normal network of human relationships is potentially plagued by hallucinations and cognitive deskilling.

By treating AI as a partner, we will be able to maximise the potential that it can offer. Our human-centred pedagogy also ensures that AI is never used in isolation – it will always be seen through the human lens and developed in alignment with human values and societal benefits. This includes considerations like fairness, transparency, accountability, privacy, and security.

For sure, we are at the inflexion point of the technological evolution. The launch of DAITA is therefore timely, bringing together innovators from all enterprises – start-ups, SMEs, and large corporations – to harness Design, AI and Technology to develop groundbreaking solutions that tackle real business challenges while being constantly mindful of our responsibility to people and society that we are ultimately serving. We are glad that enterprises have heeded the call. As you will see over the next two hours, we have some really amazing entries that harness the collective prowess of Design AI to find next-level solutions for everyday problems.

Of the close to 30 entries that were received – eight have been shortlisted. Judges will be looking at their design thinking process and strategies, the originality of the innovation, the utilisation of AI and advanced technologies, ethical considerations and sustainability, functional qualities, and of course aesthetics. Who says what is practical can’t look good? Last but not least, the judges will also look at the impact of the solution.

At the end of the presentation, our judges will deliberate before we announce the winners. Our Guest of Honour, Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, will be here later to present the awards to the top three winners.

Speaking about judges, apart from ����ɫ�� Deputy President and Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer, Professor Tai Lee Siang, who is Chief Judge, we are honoured to have distinguished judges from academia and industry on the panel. They are Ms Chen Huifen, Editor of BT; Professor John Ochsendorf, Founding Director of MIT Morningside Academy for Design c/o MIT School of Architecture and Planning; Ms Dawn Lim, Executive Director of DesignSingapore Council; Mr Laurence Liew, Director of AI Industry Innovation, AI Singapore; and Ms Farizan d’Avezac De Moran, Senior Partner of GreenA Consultants Pte Ltd – all of whom have had distinguished careers in the field of design and AI.

A special thank-you to John, who flew in all the way from the United States to join us today. John is the MIT Class of 1942 Professor with appointments in the departments of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering. Trained at Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, he is known for his creative research at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture, with a particular interest in masonry and historic masonry. John and his students have contributed to numerous design projects, including the Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre in South Africa, the MIT Sean Collier Memorial, several projects at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, and multiple sculptures with leading artists. He served as the Director of the American Academy in Rome from 2017 to 2020 and is the founding director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD). It is truly an honour and privilege to have you join us on the judging panel today. For those who wish to hear from him, John will be giving a lecture – Design in the Age of AI – later this evening at 6.15pm at ����ɫ�� Lecture Theatre 2.

I could go on, but I do not want to hold back the presentations. Once again, let me thank BT for choosing us as their knowledge partner – the honour is ours. Special thanks also to our very distinguished judges, industry partners, DAITA finalists, and the ����ɫ�� community for joining us today. I hope you enjoy and are wowed by the presentations.

Thank you.