I think we can make a reasonable case that (1) design is "a conscious and creative communication with materials to achieve a human effect," and that therefore, understanding and supporting it better is likely to positive impacts in general, thereby raising quality of life in general ways. It would be good to be more specific. On that note, (2) design thinking is specifically talked about in terms of thinking about the future, e.g., in the paper "Communication with Self, with Others, and with Futures: Making Artefacts in Design Thinking Workshops". If we could riff on the ideas there and get a bit more specific about some of the optative directions we'll go with the workshops, that would help our case I think.