The GO Project

The GO Project was a 2014 experiment in 21st Century higher education: learning is done in real time, on real ventures, with real stakes across three continents. Over the course of a year, a cohort of 8 diverse designers, consultants, marketers, educators, and entrepreneurs, worked on short-term high impact consulting projects in innovation hubs of South America, East Africa and Southeast Asia for 3 months each to simulate impact and cross-collaboration within entrepreneurial ecosystems. In each hub, GO has partners that immerse the cohort in multiple projects to work alongside startups and key ecosystem players across public and private sectors to help scale impact and foster cross-collaboration. The first 3-month pilot lab was in Santiago, Chile the Silicon Valley of South America in partnership with the promotion bureau ProChile. The second lab was in Istanbul, Turkey in partnership with Startupbootcamp Istanbul. The third lab was in Yangon, Myanmar in partnership with Ideabox Myanmar powered by Oordeoo. GO's year-end goal was to foster increased impact locally and globally through each lab's tangible outputs and newly formed collaborative partnerships within and across ecosystems. All partners and collaborators will be connected to share learnings, knowledge and resources. The pilot cohort ended the year with a portfolio of tangible results, first hand global knowledge and strong relationships with influential movers and shakers around the world. The GO Project's success lead to the formation of Global Opportunity (GO) a full global learning lab program that supports holistic entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem development initiatives in major city hubs across Latin America, Europe and Asia.