Innovate for Impact: Join the Race to Tackle Global Challenges & Design the Future with AI and Human-Centered Design Thinking.
Ignite your creativity and innovation skills with this immersive experience at the heart of Silicon Valley, where you’ll learn from Stanford Educators and unlock the power of AI to design solutions that will shape the future.

Over the course of 13 days (12 nights), youth aged 13-18 from all over the world will descend on Silicon Valley for this year’s DMA Global Innovation Race. It’s a race against time to solve one problem…
How can we use AI to solve a pressing societal issue in a human-centered and sustainable way?

Phase 1: Design Thinking
You will learn the fundamental skills of human-centered design, the right mindsets to understand human needs, the ability to switch between divergent and convergent thinking during the creative process, and the power of iteration to frame problems and develop solutions.
You’ll also experience “building to think” – a fundamental principle that allows you to bring your ideas to life and refine them in real time.
Phase 2: Social Thinking
You will enhance their personal and academic growth while developing an international network of lifelong friends and fellow innovators. You’ll learn how to collaborate while building trust and safety in groups. This process involves creating a comfortable context for interaction, reducing awkwardness and fostering openness.
By making space for vulnerability and transparency, you will learn responsiveness, and how to ensure that everyone around you feels heard and valued.


Phase 3: Entrepreneurial Thinking
In an ever-shifting world, it’s crucial to know how to create compelling, sustainable value in any field you choose. The key is to think like an entrepreneur. By understanding potential markets, developing a strong value proposition, and creating a path to financial sustainability, you will be well on your way to success.
You will also learn important sales and marketing skills, so you’ll be able to effectively communicate the value of your ideas to others.

At the end of the race, you will have created a concept and prototype for a new way to use AI and will showcase your newfound skills in the FutureTech Showcase.
You will leave with an innovation portfolio and return home inspired by your peers and mentors, with stories and ideas that will propel you into any career you choose!
Designed & Led by Stanford Educators…

Glenn Fajardo
Stanford Educator | Former Director of Co-Design Practice @ TechSoup
Glenn Fajardo, connects to create, exploring how we can be creative together when we are far apart and in different cultural contexts. He has been part of the Stanford d.school teaching community since 2014 and was the Stanford d.school’s Distributed Learning Teaching Fellow in 2020.
For 14 years, Glenn has been a practitioner of virtual collaboration, working with people and organizations across six continents engaged in social impact work. Glenn is the co-author (with Kursat Ozenc) of Rituals for Virtual Meetings: Creative Ways to Engage People and Strengthen Relationships.
Glenn was formerly the Director of the Co-Design Practice of the TechSoup Global Network at TechSoup, a nonprofit social enterprise founded on the belief that technology can be a powerful enabler for greater social change. Formally trained in nuclear engineering sciences and public policy, Glenn also plays electric bass and likes to cook in other people’s kitchens.
Speakers…

Prashant Loyalka
Associate Professor of Education and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University

Andre Nudelman
Chairman @ DMA | Entrepreneur in residence at the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Chris Bennett
Affiliate, Stanford Graduate School of Education | Game Designer

John Mitchell
Activities & Experiences
*The specific schedule and destinations may change
One of the world’s leading research and teaching institutions, Stanford University is a globally renowned education destination known for catalyzing discovery, accelerating solutions, sustaining life on Earth, and preparing citizens for 21st-century life and work. Stanford University alumni are entrepreneurs that have gone on to develop some of the most influential digital media companies in the world from Netflix to Google.
Be inspired by visits to leading technology companies in Silicon Valley such as Google, Tesla , Meta (Facebook), Apple, OpenAI, and more.
Learn how technology is used around the world at the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum. Learn about the beginnings of the computer chip, and its layers of complex circuitry. Get inspired by the museum’s interactive displays and understand how Intel was established. These museums will give you a broad understanding of how technology, innovation, and new discoveries are shaping business in today’s world.