Senior Lecturer, Centre for Foundational Studies, Republic Polytechnic

Elias Teo

Elias Teo is a design strategist and educator dedicated to building innovation capabilities across the corporate, public, and academic sectors. As a Senior Lecturer, Elias leads a team of educators to build critical and creative thinking competencies for over 4,000 students annually, while pioneering initiatives in Futures Thinking and Life Design to help the next generation navigate a rapidly changing landscape.

Elias’s professional trajectory is rooted in high-stakes innovation management at Singapore Airlines. He served as the Secretariat for the Promoting Innovation Committee and was a Design Project Manager for multiple award-winning cabin experiences. His work spanned from digital transformation for 7,700 crew members to utilizing NASA research techniques for ergonomics, reflecting a deep technical mastery of user-centric design.

At the DesignSingapore Council, Elias was a key architect of the nation’s design education ecosystem. He led manpower research projects, collaborating with SkillsFuture Singapore to pioneer the national Skills Framework for Design. As a Co-founder of School of X, he was responsible for the initiative’s early growth and operational success, while facilitating workshops that empowered diverse groups to apply design-led approaches to social innovation.

An Industrial Designer by training and a recipient of the International Design Competition Osaka award, Elias’s practice is situated at the intersection of Design Thinking, Social Innovation, and Capability Development. His approach to evaluation is grounded in systemic sustainability – prioritizing solutions that demonstrate technical excellence, social empathy, and the potential for future-oriented impact.