inaglobe story
inaglobe began as a response to a simple tension: many engineering and design students want to work on meaningful social and environmental issues, but the projects they encounter in their studies are often abstract, de‑contextualised, or disconnected from the realities of communities on the ground.
The initial spark came from observing successful innovations like M‑Pesa and the mobile technology boom in Africa—examples that showed how technology could address real needs when developed in close relationship with communities. Yet traditional engineering education often left students without the skills, frameworks, or opportunities to engage in this kind of situated, justice‑oriented work.
From early collaborations between humanitarian organisations and universities, inaglobe has grown into a curricular social innovation fellowship model: students work in multidisciplinary teams with partners in different regions, supported by educators and an open resource of methods, tools, and case studies.
Timeline
The timeline below is adapted from our pitch deck and highlights key moments in the development of inaglobe, from initial pilots through to the current fellowship model.
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Evolution and growth
Early pilots and experiments
The first inaglobe projects emerged from direct conversations between educators and humanitarian partners. These early collaborations tested whether students could meaningfully contribute to real challenges while meeting academic learning outcomes. Projects were small, exploratory, and often focused on specific technical problems—energy access, water quality, or communication tools—in particular communities.
Developing the fellowship model
As these pilots accumulated, patterns began to emerge: students needed more time and structure to build relationships with partners; projects benefited from interdisciplinary teams; and the most valuable outcomes were often shifts in perspective and practice, not just technical deliverables. This led to the development of a more structured fellowship model, with cohorts of students working on multi‑month projects, regular reflection sessions, and shared documentation of methods and learnings.
Expanding geographies and themes
Over time, inaglobe projects have spanned new regions and themes: energy systems and circularity in Southeast Asia, health infrastructure in East Africa, social infrastructure and care practices in South America, and more. Each new geography and theme has brought new constraints, opportunities, and learnings—while maintaining a commitment to long‑term relationships with partners rather than one‑off interventions.
Building the open resource
A crucial turning point was the decision to document and share methods, tools, and case studies openly. Rather than keeping practices proprietary, inaglobe began building a shared resource that anyone could reuse, remix, and teach with. This has enabled educators at other institutions to adapt inaglobe approaches, and has created a growing archive of what works (and what doesn't) in social innovation education.
Challenges and adaptations
Building inaglobe has not been without challenges. Early projects sometimes struggled with unrealistic expectations—from students hoping to "solve" complex problems in a semester, or partners expecting polished, production‑ready solutions. There have been tensions around power, representation, and who benefits from innovation work. And the practical logistics of coordinating across time zones, languages, and institutional structures have required constant adaptation.
These challenges have shaped how inaglobe works today: projects are explicitly framed as experiments rather than solutions; reflection on power and ethics is built into the curriculum; and the organisational model emphasises distributed collaboration rather than centralised control.
What we've learned so far
Across cohorts, a recurring insight has been that the most important outcomes are often relational and reflective: shifts in how students understand their role as engineers or designers, and how partners see the possibilities of collaborating with universities.
For students
Fellows consistently report that inaglobe changed how they think about their discipline—not just what they can build, but why, for whom, and with what consequences. Many carry these sensibilities into their careers, whether in research, public institutions, or entrepreneurial projects.
For partners
Partners have found value not just in specific prototypes or research outputs, but in the relationships, shared learning, and new perspectives that emerge from working with student teams over time. Some partnerships have continued for multiple cohorts, building on previous work.
Perhaps the biggest learning has been that social innovation education works best when it is situated (grounded in real places and relationships), relational (built on trust and long‑term collaboration), and open (methods and outcomes are shared so others can learn and adapt).
Looking forward
As inaglobe continues to evolve, the focus remains on deepening relationships with existing partners, expanding the open resource, and supporting a distributed network of educators and practitioners rather than building a large central organisation. The goal is not to scale inaglobe as a single programme, but to support many variations and adaptations that share core principles and practices.
This website and the open resource are part of that effort: making inaglobe's methods, stories, and tools available for anyone to reuse, remix, and teach with—so that more students can have transformative, real‑world learning experiences, and more communities can benefit from collaborative innovation work.