Above: Mr Jeffrey Ho Kiat, Director, DesignSingapore Council

Singapore - Mr Jeffrey Ho Kiat was appointed the new Director of the DesignSingapore Council, the national agency for the promotion and development of Singapore design, on 1 December 2009. He took over from the previous Director, Dr Milton Tan, who will resume his Associate Professorship in the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore from 1 January 2010.

About Mr Ho

Mr Jeffrey Ho was founding Director of the School of Design at Singapore Polytechnic. Prior to setting up the School of Design, Mr Ho co-founded the IDEA (Innovation Design and Enterprise in Action) Centre at the Polytechnic and developed the IDEA Module for all first year students at the Singapore Polytechnic to infuse innovation and design into their curriculum. 
 
Mr Ho was instrumental in the infusion of design thinking at Singapore Polytechnic. As Director of the School of Design, he developed and launched the Diploma in Experience and Product Design, the first of its kind to train a new breed of experience designers for the new creative economy. Since the inception of the School of Design in 2007, the students and graduates of the school have been well-received by the industry and have won many prizes for design locally and internationally. He was creator of the successful "50 plus designing for 50 plus" workshop that uses design thinking, where designers collaborated with seniors to design products and services for the ageing 50 plus market. 
 
Prior to his directorship at the Singapore Polytechnic, Mr Ho practiced as an architect at the Housing Development Board (HDB) and in private practice. As a Strategic Design Specialist, he has helped organisations and businesses work towards the strategic use of design to achieve a competitive edge. Mr Ho is also a visual artist; his acrylic paintings are well-received and in private collections.