Design Lecture — The Impactpreneur: Designing Policy and Ecosystems for Economic and Social Value
Seminar
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Date
30 Oct 2026
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Organiser
PolyU Design
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Time
14:00 - 15:15
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Venue
V1101, 11/F, Block V, PolyU Map
Speaker
Emily Ong
Enquiry
Chun Hei Cheng chun-hei.cheng@polyu.edu.hk
Summary
In her disability employment work, she applied these principles to a deeply human challenge: enabling sustainable employment for persons with disabilities by orchestrating employers, training providers, government bodies, and community organisations into a functioning ecosystem. This became a practical demonstration of how policy design and ecosystem design must operate together to create outcomes that endure.
In this lecture, Emily introduces the idea of the Impactpreneur: a practitioner who treats economic and social value as one integrated design problem. She will unpack what ecosystem design looks like across different policy contexts, which trade-offs persist across sectors, and how designers can build work that holds up across institutions, not just within them.
- This lecture is open to SD staff and students. Event registration is required (deadline: 23 Oct).
Keynote Speaker
Emily Ong
Strategic Leader in Public Policy, Social Impact & Creative Strategy; Doctor of Design (DDes) Student, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Emily Ong has spent 30+ years working across public policy, creative strategy and social impact in the private, public and people sectors - leading both business and national initiatives that shape how Singapore supports its citizens and grows its creative economy. She began her career in advertising and media with Miller Freeman and Singapore Press Holdings before moving into public service, where I held senior roles shaping national policies and initiatives in government agencies such as the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), Economic Development Board (EDB), Media Development Authority (MDA), and DesignSingapore Council (Dsg). This included leading major national masterplans and working closely with industry, educational institutions, and community partners to grow Singapore’s creative and digital economy. Most recently, as Senior Director (Employment & Lifelong Learning) at SG Enable, she led national efforts to expand employment and lifelong learning opportunities for persons with disabilities and their caregivers. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, building on a Master of Design (Design Strategies) with Distinction from the same institution, a Master of Business Administration from University of Western Australia, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from National University of Singapore. She is also an INSEAD Innovation by Design alumna.
