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Challenge Seattle
Challenge Seattle
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INITIATIVE
Global Innovation Exchange:Cultivating Technology Talent
With the Global Innovation Exchange at the University of Washington, we helped create an innovative new platform for developing the next generation of global technology leaders.
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 it was imperative to deepen and broaden the capabilities of our STEM degree pipeline to match the growing needs of business and our economy.
Our Focus
Our state’s universities rank among the best in the world, especially in the fields of engineering, business, and design. Yet our ability to compete globally calls for leaders whose capabilities and skills are drawn from several academic fields.
We focused our attention on exploring new approaches to education that would help us develop interdisciplinary leaders with the skills to drive our future cycles of technology innovation.
Our Work
With founding leadership from Microsoft, we supported the development and launch of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) at the University of Washington in 2017.
Designed by leading academic and industry innovators, GIX is a new platform for challenge-based, interdisciplinary education at the intersection of engineering, business, and design. Operating from state-of-the-art facilities in Bellevue’s dynamic Spring District, UW’s GIX offers graduate education, professional development opportunities, and an array of immersive, global technology experiences.
Focused on experiential education and practice-based learning in collaboration with industry partners, GIX aims to inspire global innovators to address the world’s most pressing challenges through the responsible application of advanced technologies. GIX’s challenge-based curriculum brings top faculty and students from across disciplines and around the world to work in close collaboration with corporate partners. Ultimately, students learn to take an innovative idea from concept to development and on to launch, creating actionable solutions to global challenges such as health, sustainability, and social equity.
