International Innovation Corps

OUR STORY - SENDING TOP TALENT TO SOLVE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AROUND THE WORLD Governments across the globe have enormous potential and drive, but many face immense social and economic hurdles. Public sectors seek high-impact, scalable ways to address development challenges that can be implemented effectively. An incredible opportunity exists to create social impact interventions that really make a difference, and graduates from top universities around the world are passionate about doing exactly this kind of work. That's why the IIC, a program based at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, sends top talent to work with government organizations on year long fellowships that implement innovative solutions to important development problems. HOW IT WORKS - The IIC recruits top-performing graduates of leading host-country universities and the University of Chicago and organises them into teams of up to 5 Project Associates. Project Associates train for 5 weeks in skills required to translate their academic and professional knowledge into on-the-ground contributions. The IIC embeds each team within a government office to work on an innovative development project with a discrete, tractable scope for a year. The IIC provides light-touch managers and mentors to help teams of Project Associates achieve their projects’ goals. A UNIQUE MODEL - The IIC's distinct model leverages global talent and government resources in a new way. This model has three defining features-IIC Project Associates work in teams to foster entrepreneurial collaboration-IIC teams work directly with the government, to ensure projects address official priorities-IIC projects create scalable solutions, in order to maximise impact.