The world is facing huge challenges and the current education systems displays some gaps in preparing young people with the right innovation mindset to tackle these social challenges. There is need to shape our young people into future active citizens who will solve the planet’s challenges with innovative minds and compassionate spirits.
What is the problem?
The rising internet generation of young learners needs new future ready skills which are often not taught in schools
Future Ready Skills for Teenagers
State of our Education System
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Collaboration across networks & leading by influence
Initiative & Entrepreneurship
Emotional & Social Intelligence
Agility & Adaptability
Curiosity & Imagination
Digital Literacy
Effective Oral & Written Communication
Two major trends that are challenging the education system
The shift from industrial economy to knowledge economy
The rise of internet generation of students who have different motivations
This means that the skills for the future are often not taught in schools today
The schools need to reinvent their education system and need to have content that would teach these core competencies to the students in a fun and interactive way.
Empowering Young People to Change the World
Because everyone is an Innovator
We need the young people to be
To solve huge social challenges
GIMI IMPACT is a certified course designed to empower high school students to build a more Compassionate and Innovative Society.
GIMI IMPACT is developed to specifically build capacity by supporting educators and empowering high school Youth to build a more Compassionate and more Innovative Society.
This is the world's first globally recognized professional certification for Community and Social Innovation designed to equip high school students with the 21st century skills such as problem solving, innovation, empathy and compassion.
The purpose is to empower them as they become next generation of leaders to tackle the biggest social challenges the world is facing.
GIMI IMPACT is equivalent to the GIMI Level 1 Innovation Associate designation and based on the globally recognized GIMI training curriculum and focused on teaching social innovation to younger ages.
GIMI IMPACT uses a well-structured course aiming to inspire young people to innovate, create innovative solutions around social challenges and present these solutions to the others.
GIMI Impact is divided into three phases of building mastery
Inspire to Build Innovative Skills
Apply and Compete to solve Real-World Social Challenges
Commit by Presenting to others
Get introduced to innovation tools and techniques
Work together as a team and learn how to collaborate with others
Develop a powerful pitch for your solution concept and present it with live artefacts
Learn how to think like an innovator by acquiring knowledge on world-class problem solving
Apply the learnings on a real-world social challenge and compete to develop solutions that would create impact
Get recognized and might even funded from expert judging panel
Develop artefacts that would make it real
Together we want to...
The program offers a fully fledged package including the course, e-learning system, software, booklets, pilot reference and international certificate for teachers and high school students.
What do we provide?
Course Curricula
Innovation tools & ideation techniques to embed in the course
E-Learning System & Software to simulate exercises
Booklet of challenges affecting young people & the world
Support & Pilot Reference
Certifications for teachers & students
With GIMI Impact we are empowering future entrepreneurs and creating a community of innovation skill trainers who are building a highly dynamic learning environment to tackle community challenges
What is the Impact?
Empowered Active Global Citizens
We are empowering entrepreneurs of the future to navigate ambiguity and uncertainty with world-class problem-solving and innovation skills by training 100,000 high school students around the world
Addressing Community Challenges
We are enabling schools to adapt and respond to a highly dynamic learning environment and changing student behaviors and make them future ready
For Updated School System
The network of schools, teachers and students are together tackling and navigating complex social and community challenges with empathy and compassion through implementation of 10,000 micro-projects
Community of Innovation Skill Trainers
We are creating a community of 5,000 teachers who are enriching and simplifying the teaching of innovation in the school system using GIMI IMPACT methodology
You can work with us as a franchise, as a GIMI Partner, Sponsor a challenge or just get certified
Become a Franchise
Private schools, formal & informal training providers, NGOs
Get trained to be our exclusive local partners for a community
GIMI Partners
Certified Training Partners
Get trained to be our exclusive partner for a region and train and certify other local partners
Sponsor a Challenge
Private, Institutional Donors, Municipalities, Public Institutions
Sponsor a challenge for your community and we will facilitate the program to create the desired impact
Get Certified
Schools and teachers
Get trained and certified to become the next generation of leaders or change makers
GIMI has created GIMI IMPACT course and certificate to spread and embed innovation in the early ages. In partnership with SWRL has piloted with 200 high school students and 20 teachers in Waterloo.
Who is driving this initiative?
GIMI is the world's largest certifying body in innovation and innovation management. It's vision is to democratize innovation worldwide. GIM Institute has create Hult Prize, the biggest accelerator on social innovation, Innovation Olympics, the world largest contest involving students to solve corporate challenges, NET Impact etc. GIMI Impact is the most recent program focused on social innovation. This program marks the start of a global movement to teach innovation, compassion, and complex problem solving to K-12 students around the world.
GIMI has partnered with the Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab (SWIRL) to pilot GIMI IMPACT in the public school system in Canada. SWIRL aims to embed the program in the public school curricula after its pilot in Waterloo and expand in Ontario and across Canada.
"All children begin with an innovation and growth mindset until parents and schools begin to teach them to follow the rules!
We do need to teach them to follow the rules but we also need to teach them to when to break the rules and when to make the rules."
Hitendra Patel
Executive Director GIM Institute
Testimonials
Co-founded by Dr. Hitendra Patel and Ahmad Ashkar, Hult Prize created the world's largest and highest impact high school competition through its proprietary crowdsource innovation model. The High School Prize mobilized students around the world, providing them with a platform to raise awareness, develop and implement solutions to challenges faced by their own generation. Since 2009, the Hult Prize has launched market-based start-ups in five sectors and has been recognized as the "Nobel Prize for Young People".
"SWRL piloted GIMI Impact to 300 high school students and 20 teachers. In all my work, I can say that the only true sustainable competitive advantage is Compassion. Innovation - or complex problem solving - is one of the most efficient mediums I know of to unlock the Compassion-state in all of us. If we want a better world, we need to raise and empower more Compassionate Children & Youth and unlock and enhance their natural ability to be innovative and compassionate."
Grayson Bass
Manager SWRL
"I’ve really enjoyed giving students the chance to connect our learnings from class to issues that they care about. Seeing students able to articulate the issues they see in the world around them and learn how to make meaningful change to address those issues has been incredibly rewarding. And students have appreciated the chance to learn and apply creative/lateral thinking!"
SWR Teachers
"I enjoy hearing from and working alongside other teachers, both in my school and across the pilot. The design thinking structure is straightforward, and though I didn't use many of the activities as others may have, I can see their benefit for teachers/students who are working through this structure for the first time or if their curriculum doesn't lend itself immediately to DT structure. Students connected well with the empathetic approach and worked to develop that lens throughout the project period. I can see that they are building critical understanding towards compassionate action and that they are excited about the potential their projects may create."
SWR Teachers
"The SWRIL Pilot Program has been a unique learning experience as we partnered with curious teachers, supportive administrators and knowledgeable folks at the Innovation Lab. Throughout the process we were given enough guidelines to know what the outlines of the project were intended to be but enough freedom to carve our own way through. This type of programming is for teachers looking to blow the metaphorical walls off their classroom in pursuit of student-led learning that authentically has them work through the inquiry process. The benefits are hard-won, to be sure, but when students are able to take control of their learning then the rewards are great. Students feel ownership of their learning and are intrinsically motivated to do more and to go further in their learning. What teacher could ask for more?!"
SWR Teachers