INITIATIVE

Global Innovation Exchange:Cultivating Technology Talent

In launching the Global Innovation Exchange, we aspired to develop the future thought leaders in innovation.

The Challenge

In the mid-2010s, Seattle lagged peer cities in key competitiveness metrics for university graduates. Simultaneously, with the continued boom of our tech sector, there was a need to deepen the STEM degree pipeline to match the growing needs of business and our economy.

Our Focus

To build the workforce pipeline we need today and ensure our global competitiveness tomorrow, we sought out ways to build talent that leverages emerging technologies in new and impactful ways, to grow graduate-level STEM talent in Seattle and local companies, and to continue fueling cycles of innovation in the business and education sectors.

Our Work

In partnership with the University of Washington, Tsinghua University, and Microsoft, we founded the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) and enrolled the first full cohort of students in 2017. GIX is a revolutionary project-based Technology Innovation graduate and professional education program focused on experiential education and practice to develop leaders in innovation. Students work in cross-disciplinary teams and use design thinking, data science, and entrepreneurship to solve complex, real-world problems from industry partners.

GIX’s interdisciplinary, project-based curriculum brings top faculty and learners from across disciplines and around the world to work in close collaboration with industry partners and leading entrepreneurs from diverse industries. Students learn to take an innovative idea from concept to development and on to launch, creating solutions to global challenges such as health, sustainability, and social equity.

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