International Conference on Societies of Opportunity (ICSO) 2025

The inaugural International Conference on Societies of Opportunity (ICSO) 2025 was held on 29 and 30 April 2025 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre. The event, jointly organised by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), was attended by over 600 participants across both days. This comprised government officials, academics, social service practitioners, and students.

ICSO serves as a platform for international policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to exchange ideas on how to create access to opportunities to foster social mobility. Many societies around the world, including Singapore, are grappling with greater income and wealth inequality. This has led to concerns on greater polarisation and affect social cohesion. Social mobility remains crucial for members of society, especially disadvantaged groups, to participate in its economic growth and progress, thereby maintaining social cohesion and economic vitality.

International and local experts provided a broad overview of the global state of social mobility and discussed key drivers of social mobility. This included a keynotes by Professor Raj Chetty (Harvard University) and Professor Danny Quah (NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy). There were three plenary sessions covering the role of the government, families and individuals, and the community and corporates in enabling social mobility.

The conference also featured a series of breakout sessions that focused on social impact initiatives led by corporates and philanthropic groups (e.g. DBS, Temasek Foundation).