FutureLab Initiative

Our mission is to increase the participation of young people in designing the social system and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. In turn, creating a way for young people to develop innovation and entrepreneurship skills by designing solutions for the problems they encounter in the social system.Our solutionis based on the reality that, our education system often focuses on a narrow sliver of children’s cognitive development with an emphasis on transmitting content knowledge, often to be memorized and repeated in the same form it was received. Lessons in math, science, and reading and tests in those skills dominate. Our Goal is to give young people the tools to design solutions by interacting with real life problems based on the United Nations Sustainable Goals by catalyzing design thinking and entrepreneurial skills. Our futuristic model is one in which schools partner with families and community organizations to provide well-rounded educational opportunities.

The Problem is that many schools today are based on antiquated designs from the early 1900s that emulate the factory model, wherein students are taught how to improve their numeracy and reading skills. These structures depersonalize learning at a time when students need and would benefit from hands-on activities that develop their innovation skills. FutureLab Toolkit is based on the reality that, our education system often focuses on a narrow sliver of children’s cognitive development with an emphasis on transmitting content knowledge, often to be memorized and repeated in the same form it was received. Lessons in math, science, and reading—and tests in those skills—dominate. While those subjects are fundamental, learning involves far more than merely acquiring inert knowledge in algebra or chemistry. Such a narrow focus gives short shrift to the ways that children need to grow and learn in their relationships, identity, emotional understanding, and overall well-being. 

FutureLab Toolkits are designed to be facilitated in primary & high schools, and other educational organizations as weekly, continuous learning program. This toolkit helps students develop entrepreneurial and analytic skills. Future Formula Toolkit is offered as card decks diagnosing complex issues reflecting on SDGs. These card decks are accompanied by a simple booklet for students to explore design thinking while solving the worlds biggest problems.This is a fun and simple way to learn the essentials of problem solving, improve your skills as an innovator, and understand more about the SDGs you interact with everyday. Innovation is the driving power of entrepreneurs, who want to change the world as we know it. And as a result of this importance of innovation in entrepreneurship, a big place for design thinking is reserved in the lives of all startup enthusiasts, innovators, and visionaries. We believe that students will find inspiration by observing everything, even the most usual aspects, and activities of our lives. We, as humans, easily get into a routine and perform certain activities automatically. The habits that we create help our brains to focus on learning new things easily. 

The questions that our solution is addressing is, "What are we really doing when we teach or educate young people in entrepreneurship, in terms of the nature and the impact of our interventions? What do we know about the appropriateness, the relevancy, the coherency, the social usefulness and the efficiency of our initiatives and practices in entrepreneurship education? Addressing these issues and challenges, our methodology suggest at least two major evolutions which might reinforce the future of entrepreneurship education. 

First, we need strong intellectual and conceptual foundations, drawing from the fields of entrepreneurship and education, to strengthen our entrepreneurship courses. And finally, we also need to deeply reflect on our practices, as researchers and educators, taking a more critical stance toward a too often adopted “taken for granted” position. 

FutureLab Initiative gives schools, students and educational organizations a range of services which includes training, which help the curriculum to be facilitated successfully in selected K12 schools and higher education. It typically includes before- and after- school hands-on sessions, such as interviewing, brainstorming, prototyping as well as pitching, like entrepreneurs do in real life. 

Design is a process of divergence and convergence requiring skills in observation, synthesis, searching and generating alternatives, critical thinking, feedback, visual representation, creativity, problem-solving, and value creation. Teaching entrepreneurship through a design lens can help students identify and act on unique venture opportunities using a toolkit of observation, fieldwork, and understanding value creation across multiple stakeholder groups. Human-centeredness is what separates design thinking from other innovation methodologies. It has the ability to produce radical innovation rather than incremental innovation. A different approach is taken into consideration compared to the traditional way of teaching entrepreneurship and innovation