NEW awards – called the Design AI and Tech Awards – are being rolled out, with the hope that Singapore will emerge as a hub for discourse and a place where innovations can be pioneered.
The first edition will take place in 2025 and applications are currently open. The Business Times and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) are the joint organisers. SUTD – one of the six autonomous universities in Singapore – is the knowledge partner of the awards.
In an interview with BT, Professor Tai Lee Siang, SUTD’s deputy president and chief innovation and enterprise officer, said that the Covid-19 pandemic was proof that the world’s problems were no longer just on a national scale but a global one.
Given this backdrop, he added that it was timely to have an award that recognises the efforts to use artificial intelligence (AI) for design and innovation.
Prof Tai said that AI is a very efficient tool that can cut through aspects that a human mind cannot comprehend or compute fast enough and give solutions in quick time. “We hope to see Singapore emerge as a hub for discourse, for invention, and even pioneering new innovation through this unique combination of design and AI.”
The awards are open to companies no matter where they are based, and are primarily targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups and large corporations.
SMEs have struggled through the different economic cycles and are very prone to big fluctuations in resources and logistics problems, noted Prof Tai.
“With the help of AI, we hope that they can overcome some of these constraints and start to grow their business beyond Singapore to the region.”
He pointed out that large corporations have bigger financial muscle to invest in AI and encouraged these bigger players to participate in the awards to showcase excellent examples of how it has made an impact on their businesses.
As for startups, they have the opportunity to use AI to create products and solutions to ensure they stand out from their competitors that do not use it.
“For a new technology like artificial intelligence to gain greater acceptance, entrepreneurs, business leaders and individuals will want to see how others are applying them,” said BT editor Chen Huifen.
“And this is what the Design AI and Tech Awards aims to do – to flesh out the value and usefulness of AI in solving real problems so that more people and companies can see the potential, more conversations can take place and trust can be built.”
There are three award categories: Product Design, System Design and Spatial Design.
AI application in these categories are easiest to manifest themselves, either in the process or the end product, said Prof Tai.
Citing the product design category as an example, Prof Tai noted that smart-product designs that try to anticipate user needs and interact with users have begun to emerge. However, this may only be the tip of the iceberg.
“We are hoping to see products that not only use AI for the design process, but literally integrate AI into the product itself, or what we call embodied AI,” he said.
Apart from that, AI is also expected to be integrated with other technologies, as well as other disciplines such as humanities, arts and social sciences.
Outstanding solutions will be invited for a presentation event, where a top prize will be awarded to one solution in each category.
Submissions will be assessed across six criteria: design thinking process and strategies; originality; utilisation of AI and advanced technologies; ethical consideration and sustainability; aesthetic and functional qualities; and whether the design has made quantitative and qualitative impact.
Applications for the Design AI and Tech Awards close on Dec 31 this year. Those interested can get more information here.
