Innovating for X (i4X)

Project-based learning connects students to the world beyond the classroom and prepares them to accept and meet challenges in the real world in a way that mirrors what professionals do every day. Project-based learning (PBL) involves students designing, developing, and constructing hands-on solutions to a problem. The educational value of PBL is that it aims to build students’ creative capacity to work through difficult or ill-structured problems. Typically, PBL takes students through the following phases or steps:

• Identifying a problem/challenge/opportunity
• Problem framing to better understand, define, structure and prioritize the challenge.
• Modeling a solution or set of solutions and pathways towards development / delivery
• Designing and developing a prototype of the solution
• Refining and testing the solution based on feedback from experts, potential users, faculty and/or peers

i4X, or Innovating for X, is an OIC-led program series designed to bring multidisciplinary student teams to collaborate on disruptive solutions to real-world challenges across different sectors.The i4x platform is open to all UC San Diego graduate and undergraduate students in good academic standing. 

Currently, there are three lanes within the i4X program, which include different focal points, such as Industry (i4I), Society (i4S), and Government (i4G).