#65 - Modernising digital services at scale with Hefen Wong

What does it take to modernise a live government system? Hefen Wong from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower shares how an 18-year-old Employment Pass platform was transformed into a user-centred digital service: through prioritising user value, smart use of research, and agile ways of working.

We visit Sheila Kesselaers and Tomas De Preter at Reynaers Group HQ: how do they grow the shift to a Customer Experience mindset at a systems company in the world of building elements?

We talk with Mia Mo, Robyn Carino, and Samiha Essakhi as they take us through the innovative model they co-created to integrate health, social, and physical supports directly within Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCS).

We talk with Maarten Raemdonck, Head of Innovation at Aquafin, and Lien Dewitte from Leap Forward, about how innovation takes root in a large, technical organisation. From bold early experiments to building lasting change, they share honest lessons from Aquafin’s journey to make innovation part of everyday work in a company that treats the waste water of 5 million people daily.

In this episode, we visit AZ Groeninge in Kortrijk to meet Brian Desplinter and Jurgen De Klerck, the duo behind a unique collaboration between healthcare and telecom. From private 5G networks to co-designed care services, we explore how design thinking is driving real change in a clinical setting.

What if your home had a memory? In this episode, PhD researcher Sun Ah Hwang joins us to explore Digital Building Logbooks — the “health cards” of buildings. From DIY dreams to data-driven renovation advice, we discuss how DBLs are reshaping our approach to sustainability, ownership, and building design across Europe.

Dr. Samuel Huber shares his takes on how to design better futures from a planetary perspective. Being both a design entrepreneur and researcher, he utilises his academic side for real-life prototyping of strategies.

How do you engage active neighbours in saving energy together with the rest of their neighbourhood? How can you improve social cohesion in local communities? Djoera Eerland shares the challenges and learnings of kickstarting neighbourhood collectives at scale, with Buurkracht.

“All of Latin America is on fire at the moment. We’re losing thousands of hectares of ecosystems…”This is how Coral brings us to Brazil at the start of our conversation. She is currently working for re.green, an organisation that restores tropical forests at scale, and she recently published her book on Ecosystemic Design.

How to make your services more inclusive and accessible? Tom Van Hoey from District09 and Yalenka Mariën from Knight Moves share insights from Flanders' City Deal 'E-inclusion by Design,' where they focus on crafting accessible digital tools for 13 Flemish cities. Together, we discuss the importance of small-scale experimentation, encouraging city officials to adopt user-centred approaches, and using storytelling for sustainable collaboration.