Inaglobe fellowship empowers students to innovate for social impact

Published 17th October 2025

Each year, STEM students spend months on research and innovation projects that are important for grades but can feel disconnected from real-world impact. Inaglobe, founded in 2017, bridges this gap by giving students projects that directly address real-world problems, validated by the communities they serve. Stakeholders remain involved throughout, ensuring solutions are meaningful and relevant.

The Social Innovation Fellowship

The Social Innovation Fellowship offers STEM students a full experiential learning journey. Fellows gain hands-on experience in frugal innovation, designing technologies for low-resource environments, and working with culturally and socially diverse stakeholders. They develop both technical and soft skills needed to tackle global challenges, from the UN Sustainable Development Goals to the climate crisis. Successful projects, such as Paige Braille, show how affordable, life-changing devices can be created for global communities.

Linking to KS3 classroom practice

For D&T teachers, the inaglobe model aligns closely with 'Inspired by Industry', a suite of free Key Stage 3 resources developed with leading design and manufacturing companies. 'Inspired by Industry' allows teachers to use real-life contexts in the classroom, showing students how organisations design, prototype, and test. Teachers who are members of the D&T Association can also access member-only tasks and activities, including Focus Tasks (FTs) and Investigative & Evaluative Activities (IEAs), to complement the Inspired by Industry contexts and enrich learning.

By combining academic accreditation with real-world impact, inaglobe empowers students to become innovators for sustainable futures. D&T teachers can use the fellowship and 'Inspired by Industry' as inspiration to show students the practical, meaningful possibilities of design and technology.

Download the PDF article to keep in your classroom as a lasting source of inspiration for future projects and lessons.