The IDEA Project Competitors

Stanford University pursues its founding mission of research and education with a spirit of optimism and possibility. Stanford catalyzes discoveries, accelerates the human impact of its research, educates students in a culture of expansive inquiry and freedom of thought, and offers world-class medical care. An engine of innovation and economic growth, Stanford is at the frontier of new knowledge and breakthroughs that move from labs and classrooms out into the world. The university is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and first welcomed students in 1891. Its main campus is home to seven schools, along with interdisciplinary research and policy institutes, athletics, and the arts. More than 7,200 undergraduate and 10,000 graduate students study at Stanford each year. Stanford’s 2,402 faculty members are leaders in their fields, and their ranks currently include 20 Nobel laureates. Learn more at stanford.edu.

IDEO (pronounced “EYE-dee-oh”) is a global design consultancy helping the world’s most audacious dreamers create braver tomorrows. We activate our science of design with the alchemy of our wide-eyed and wonderful creative people to make futures you can click, feel, taste, test, and believe in. Our early days were filled with designing groundbreaking physical products, but 40 years in, you’ll find that we’ve been busy working on the future of almost everything, from sustainable supply chains with H&M to design-oriented organizations with Ford, entire civic infrastructures with Intercorp—and so much more.

The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam is Germany's university center of excellence for digital engineering, advancing research and education in IT systems engineering, data engineering, cyber security, entrepreneurship, and digital health. With its bachelor‘s and master’s degree programs, the Faculty of Digital Engineering, established jointly by HPI and the University of Potsdam, offers innovative engineering- and application-oriented study programs. At present, more than 700 students are enrolled in the program. HPI consistently earns a top-notch place in the CHE University Ranking. The HPI School of Design Thinking is Europe’s first innovation school for university students. It is based on the Stanford model of the d.school and offers 300 places annually for a supplementary study. At HPI there are currently twenty-two professors and over 50 guest professors and lecturers. HPI conducts research noted for its high standard of excellence in its IT topic areas. PhD candidates carry out research at the HPI Research Schools in Potsdam and its branches in Cape Town and Irvine. The focus of HPI’s teaching and research is on the foundations and applications of large, highly complex and networked IT systems. In addition, HPI concentrates on the development and research of user-oriented innovations for all areas of life.