The APO Vision 2025 emphasizes the productivity-boosting capabilities of smart transformation and innovation, particularly in service sectors affected by digitalization and other sectors affected by servicification. Singapore’s achievements in innovation, entrepreneurship, and workforce development serve as benchmarks for other service-based economies. To share service innovation and design thinking best practices from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore to inspire and guide APO members, the Workshop on Best Practices of Service Design in SMEs was held on 14–17 October 2025 in Singapore.

Hosted by the Singapore Productivity Centre, the workshop helped participants understand service sector trends, the growing demand for innovation, and service design methodologies. It also supported APO members in enhancing service quality through service design, a multidisciplinary approach that improves customer and provider experiences by aligning infrastructure, communication, and user needs.

Eighteen participants from nine APO members gained insights from four resource persons: one from India, one from Malaysia, and two from Singapore. Sessions covered emerging technological trends in service design, AI-driven strategies, building service-based economies, key service design metrics, workflow automation, organizational change, and strategic implementation for SMEs. Site visits to Nanyang Polytechnic’s Service Experience Design Collaborative Lab and Hay Dairies Pte., Ltd., offered practical insights into academic and SME applications of service design. On the final day, participants engaged in group work to apply their learning to a case study, exploring solutions from the perspectives of government, industry, and workforce stakeholders.