MANILA, Philippines—In celebration of World Industrial Design Day, the DTI-Design Center of the Philippines solidified its bold commitment to inclusive innovation and nation-building through design with the successful staging of IDx Conversations 2025: We > Me, a high-level roundtable and public platform that marked a historic shift in national policy thinking.
Now in its 8th year, IDx Conversations anchored on the core Filipino value of kapwa, or shared identity— setting the tone for the country’s first-ever National Design Policy. This groundbreaking initiative reframes design not as a luxury but as a strategy for sustainable development, embedding ethical, humanity-centered principles into governance, enterprise, education, and community building.
In her opening remarks, DTI-Design Center Executive Director Maria Rita Matute echoed the World Design Organization’s (WDO) global call to “(Let’s) Get Ethical. She urged Filipino designers to be values-driven and ethical in their practice, “so not only we can have good designers who solve problems but develop great design that prevents problems.”
Culture advocate Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr. framed the first conversation with a cultural perspective on kapwa, the Filipino psychology of shared identity, which fosters human dignity and interconnectedness. “Kapwa is humaneness at the highest level,” he said. “The more one engages in it, the more the goodness in others is evoked. It affirms the ultimate oneness of humankind.”
De Leon further emphasized that Filipino traditional culture, which places high value on emotional intelligence, sharing, the common good, and connection, can serve as a good basis for design principles in contemporary life. “Harnessing them and affirming their importance is to showcase Filipino identity and dignity through design,” he added.
Paolo Mercado, Founder and President of the Creative Economy Council, expanded the conversation to policy, positioning design as a strategic lever for improving everyday life and contributing to national development. As Lead Policy Expert of the National Design Policy, Mercado detailed the five-year roadmap grounded in Filipino values like kapwa, malasakit, may puso, malikhain, madiskarte, mabusisi, and mahusay—a framework poised to unlock design’s full potential.
In a data release by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Philippine Creative Economy contributed Php1.94 trillion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024—an 8.7% increase from the previous year. This growth underscores design’s important role in economic growth and nation-building, strengthening DTI-Design Center’s commitment to embed design into the national consciousness and way of life, while pushing for the country's first-ever National Design Policy.
“We must champion a Design Policy that makes good design a right for all and not a luxury for some,” Mercado asserted.
Connecting the cultural and policy discussions to education and skills development, Secretary Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, Director General of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) shared how TESDA has embedded design thinking and systems thinking into Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), helping learners not just to build, but also to imagine, solve problems, and create value.
“Design thinking teaches us that to solve complex problems in this Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) world, we must begin not with answers, but with questions, questions grounded on empathy,” said Benitez. He also emphasized that the Filipino concept of kapwa is not abstract but an actionable mindset. “Kapwa in action is co-creating with communities, not for them. It’s about walking alongside, listening deeply, and building together,” he said.
Benitez also highlighted TESDA’s ongoing collaborations with the DTI-Design Center to co-create programs, such as the Philippine Skills Framework, that will strengthen design capabilities, improve training systems, and boost the industry’s global competitiveness, while also equipping creatives to imagine and deliver future-ready solutions.
The conversation continued with a panel discussion that expanded the role of education, industry, and cultural identity in shaping design practice. Mylene Abiva, Co-Chairperson of the Design Advisory Council, stressed the role of education in nurturing values and design thinking from an early age. “Kapwa, the core concept of Filipino psychology, should be introduced at the early stages of learning,” she said. “Education is a valuable enabler, and we need to humanize our schools. Minimize memory work and promote inquiry-based learning so design thinking can flourish, even at a very young age.”
On the other hand, Industria Edition Creative Director and Co-owner Jude Tiotuico spoke on the role of immersion and empathy in design. “As designers, we have to immerse, we have to understand,” he said. “We understand to create, we do not create to be understood.”
He linked this mindset to kapwa, pointing out that the National Design Policy offers a clear roadmap for design that is both personal and socially aware. “It’s about personalizing design with the consciousness of who you are designing it for,” he added.
Through these conversations, IDx Conversations: We>Me demonstrated how Filipino values can serve as a compass for the design sector—guiding not just the creative practice but also shaping the economy, society, and culture. With kapwa at the core, design becomes not only a tool for solving problems, but a transformative force for nation-building.
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