Summer Institute Seattle 2012




Program Description

There are many urgent problems facing the planet: a degrading environment, a healthcare system in crisis, and educational systems that are inadequately training innovative thinkers to solve the problems of tomorrow. A balanced approach is required to solve these problems: a balance between design and technology, a balance between human-centered and technology-centered approaches, and a balance between different world cultures and ways of thinking. The World Lab is a new research and educational institution that is ideally suited to tackle these grand challenges. The World Lab is sited jointly between two of the world's leading computing and human-centered design institutions, the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The World Lab Summer Institute at the University of Washington brings together students from technology, design, social science and business backgrounds, and challenges them to create prototypes for products and services that solve pressing social problems.

Program Curriculum

The seven-week World Lab Summer Institute will be comprised of a set of core courses, an integrated project studio activity, and field trips to leading companies and research labs in the Puget Sound region.

Program Dates


July 9th - August 24th, 2012, with optional 1 week epilogue in Beijing in mid-September