Social Innovation Wing

Social Innovation

Social Innovation uses innovation frameworks such as Design Thinking to tackle social problems. We identify unfulfilled needs of communities and craft novel solutions with an impact!

Elvin Lim

Director

Director's Message

Hello! I’m Elvin, Director of the 12th SI Wing. As a philosophy major, I support suggesting bold ideas and asking many questions. I am especially interested in asking what gives us fulfilment and satisfaction, leading the team to build a program we are proud of.  

The last two SI batches have championed autonomy and a heart for empathising with community partners. This year, we have equipped 15 members for impact. In the first few weeks, the directing team has led engagement sessions with students and the elderly, exposing members to communities, ideas, and the social innovation process. As the committee continues to journey together, we hope to nurture a culture of audacity to give bold ideas the chance they deserve!

The Team

Yi Ting

Developmental Vice Director

“If you want something, go get it. Period.”

Dai Xuan

External Vice Director

“There’s no point if it’s easy.”

Kuo Hao

Internal Vice Director

“A kind little act goes a long way!”

SI Projects (2023/2024)

Project Chronicles

Project Members: Yi Ting, Dai Xuan, Elvin (12th Directors)

Eldercare work that involves evidence-informed interventions such as life review and intergenerational bonding are proven to improve the well-being of seniors. However, such interventions may be costly and require skilled manpower that make it difficult to implement these strategies in the nursing home context in Singapore.

In collaboration with Methodist Welfare Services’ (MWS) Research, Innovation & Training Academy (RITA), Project Chronicles pilots and tests a more accessible model of life story journalling through scrapbooking and with volunteers that can be mobilised under the guided supervision of trained professionals. This allows CAPTains to explore a cost-effective way to build capabilities within the eldercare sector that increases the well-being of seniors in a sustainable manner.

MWS/RITA and SI Facilitators of Project Chronicles (Credits: RITA)

Snippet of a Life Story Journal (Credits: RITA)

Conversations for Journaling (Credits: Elvin)

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Writers@CAPT

Project Members: Elvin (12th Director)

Writers@CAPT was inspired by the need for an emotionally powerful befriending model between migrant workers and students in Singapore. In collaboration with the Migrant Writers of Singapore (MWS), a Facebook Group formed during COVID-19, Writers@CAPT innovates the befriending model between students and migrant workers by exploring a rare and expressive form of engagement activity – literary writing.

The project aims to enable deeper conversations between students and migrant workers on our shared human conditions and facilitate an exchange of literary and cultural assets.

Writers@CAPT (Credits: MWS)

Collaborative Writing (Credits: Elvin)

Stories told in Earnest (Credits: Elvin)

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Res Novae

Project Members: Aaron, Germaine, David, Bryan, Harshita, Dai Xuan (attached Vice-Director)

Our group's solution is Critical Crossroads, a choose-your-own-adventure application that tasks users to make and explain decisions presented by fictional situations, in a fantastical context. It is aimed at children from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds, to hone their decision-making skills through expression and introspection. We also innovate using digital solutions to overcome manpower shortages.

View our prototype by clicking the button below!
(A word of caution: the website has in-built text-to-speech that automatically plays when you click on a story!)

View Our prototype

Exploring decision-making through fantasy with Dungeons & Dragons (Credits: Aaron)

One of the decisions that users are presented with in our story (Credits: Germaine)

An engagement to test the reception of our original stories with our target group (Credits: Dai Xuan)

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Good SI Group

Project Members: Yan Yu, Chee Ling, Suki, Shao Qin, Peter, Kuo Hao (attached Vice-Director)

Our entrepreneurship program at Jalan Kukoh seeks to foster self-assurance in youths, inspiring them to accomplish significant milestones and even consider entrepreneurship through equipping participants with practical baking, organizational, and marketing skills.

Trial Run Tiramisu (Credits: Peter)

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Five Guys

Project Members: Samuel, Justin, Yi Yang, When Young, Xan, Yi Ting (attached Vice-Director) (attached Vice-Director)

Cat Cafe for CAPT, a pop-up cat cafe, was organised by the Five Guys to educate people in the CAPT community about the plight faced by cat shelters and promote animal adoption. To ensure a sustainable model, they collaborated with the Meownistry of Meow, Foreword Coffee Roasters, and CAPT Coffee IG, along with the use of the team’s existing assets (e.g. connections that can contact potential partners) and access to spaces (CAPT facilities).

Team Five Guys at Five Guys (Photo Credits: Samuel)

Bean the Cat (Photo Credits: Ivan)

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SI Projects (2022/2023)

link to 2022/2023 SI Pitch

Project Chronicles

Project Members: Han Ming, Xin Hui, Yong Xin, Shannon (11th Directors)

The 11th SI Directors identified that the Dining Hall was a great source of dissatisfaction amongst CAPTains and thus endeavoured to create a more positive Dining Hall (DH) experience for CAPTains and DH Staff Members. After interviews and feedback collection boards, we designed 2 engagements – our Mindful Eating campaign where we collaborated with CAPTSupport and our very own Overheard Conversations board.

11th SI Directors (Credits: Han Ming)

Mindful Eating (Credits: 11th SI Directors)

Feedback Boards (Credits: 11th SI Directors)

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Team Bonfire

Project Members: Kuo Hao, Yue Tong, Xuan Yu, Yong Xin (attached Director)

Team Bonfire’s target community is the elderly population in Singapore; we hope to unite and bring them closer together, just like people sitting together by a bonfire. We conducted two sessions with Lions Befrienders Bendemeer.

To provide a platform to spark conversations, we designed a board game similar to Snakes and Ladders to play with the elderly. We also used the theme of “Growing Years” to guide and facilitate conversations about one’s childhood, hobbies, thoughts and feelings.

Team Bonfire (Credits: Han Ming)

Board Game Questions (Credits: Team Bonfire)

Board Game (Credits: Team Bonfire)

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SIU X Family

Project Members: Jaren, Royston, Zi Zai, Shao Qin, Shannon (attached Vice-Director)

SIU X Family aims to build stronger relationships between teens and their parents by fostering meaningful conversations within families. We created a Telebot to be added into family chatgroups on Telegram which will periodically send thought-provoking questions and polls. This will reduce the awkwardness and reluctance teens may face when trying to strike up deeper conversations with parents. We engaged with FamChamps to garner greater publicity for the bot while also seeking advice on the crafting of our bot's questions. We also collaborated with Vessels and included their game "Tabletalk" into our Telebot and allow families to gain access to the family game.

SIU X Family (Credits: Han Ming)

Frank the Family Bot (Credits: SIU X Family)

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4Beans

Project Members: Tay Han, Ashley, James, Nadya, Han Ming (attached Vice-Director)

4Beans explores the feasibility of rolling out edible horticulture among seniors participating in senior daycare facility centres. Specifically, we hope to create a sustainable horticulture programme with our community partner where they can run the programme by themselves easily and without difficulty. This project serves to provide the elderly with a sense of purpose and belonging and provides an excellent platform for them to be able to interact with one another. Horticulture will be explored via the cultivation of vegetables via hydroponics. The set up will be designed with the elderly in mind and prototyped to cater to their lower mobility.

4Beans (Credits: Han Ming)

Hydroponics (Credits: 4Beans)

Pant Maturation (Credits: 4Beans)

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CAPTilda

Project Members: Joey, Elvin, Matthias, Xin Hui (attached Vice-Director)

CAPTilda aims to engage with and better understand the migrant brother community. We conducted physical exercise sessions and created a sustainable platform – a Facebook page - for the brothers to share their experiences with cyber-crime. We also noticed that dormitories saw a constant intake of brothers all year round, whereas existing scam awareness efforts were not done all year round. As such, we interviewed brothers and created a scam awareness video that was screened at a carnival (and can be screened at other

CAPTilda (Credits: Han Ming)

Physical Exercise (Credits: Joey)

Scam Awareness Video Screening (Credits: Theersha)

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SI Projects (2021/2022)

Team Startup

Project Members: Sherman, Ting Wei, Cheng Yue, Keith, Marcus, Ming Feng

Team Startup was spurred by the realisation that many vulnerable communities lack access to dental care due to financial difficulties. However, unbeknownst to them, there may be dentists who are willing to provide this subsidised service. 

Thus, the team sought to design a digital platform that bridged essential and affordable dental care services to the communities that have limited access to them. 

Learn More About Our Project

You Tell Me

Project Members: Ashwin, Valery, Kaaviya, Sarah, Airica

We are no strangers to community engagement (CE), but taking the first step to interact with communities remains a daunting task for many. Beyond donating or volunteering, CE opportunities may also feel unintuitive. The team was driven to integrate CE into our lives by reducing the barriers to getting involved.  Check out the one-stop website designed by You Tell Me that enables you to find suitable & enriching CE opportunities based on your unique strengths, skills and interests! 

Check Out Our Website Wireframe

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Project Members: Sherman, Ting Wei, Yong Xin, Aaron, Jean, Linus

Team YANA discovered that despite the increased awareness towards mental health, many people still find it difficult to open up about their stresses. Thus, YANA set out with a simple goal: to show that you are not alone in your mental health struggles.

By tapping on our biggest underutilised resource (the wisdom and experiences of your fellow CAPTains), they spearheaded CAPT’s first-ever podcast series “CAPT On Record”. 

Listen to CAPT On Record

Karang Guni (2021/2022)

Project Members: Ashwin, Valery, Valerie Koo, Xin Hui, Lip Kuang, Cheng Yue, Xue Ting

While visiting the elderly at Jalan Kukoh, Team Karung Guni observed that many of them live in isolation. This served as a catalyst in their discussions to better the well-being of the elderly by innovating a community building platform. 

With the idea to create a digital safety net for the elderly in mind, the team devised an app to keep a real-time account of their well-being and foster a greater sense of community. 

Check Out Our Web Wireframe

Karang Guni (2021/2022)

Orbital Prototype Description (by Cheng Jun and Lip Kuang)