Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
For more than 20 years, MIT D-Lab has been emblematic of MIT’s motto: Mind and Hand. D-Lab challenges students to leave the classroom—and their comfort zones—as they come face-to-face with real-world problems around the globe. An integral part of this approach is students working directly with local communities to solve problems that matter to them—observing, listening, and collaboratively creating innovative solutions on the ground.
What’s the result? Real impact in the lives of real people. For example, a forced-air evaporative cooling chamber that keeps fruits and vegetables from spoiling in the hot climates of Kenya and India. A portable, inflatable surgical theater that can be used to perform sterile medical procedures in conflict areas. A labor movement to empower artisanal women miners in Colombia. Sustainable, community-driven solutions that will make a meaningful difference, and a new generation of problem-solvers and leaders who will drive tomorrow’s innovations.
In this conversation with leaders of the D-Lab, learn how the first two decades of the program will inform what’s in store for decades to come and discover how D-Lab is helping students solve problems in partnership with local communities in Latin America, Africa, the United States, Asia, and beyond.
For more than 20 years, MIT D-Lab has been emblematic of MIT’s motto: Mind and Hand. D-Lab challenges students to leave the classroom—and their comfort zones—as they come face-to-face with real-world problems around the globe. An integral part of this approach is students working directly with local communities to solve problems that matter to them—observing, listening, and collaboratively creating innovative solutions on the ground.
What’s the result? Real impact in the lives of real people. For example, a forced-air evaporative cooling chamber that keeps fruits and vegetables from spoiling in the hot climates of Kenya and India. A portable, inflatable surgical theater that can be used to perform sterile medical procedures in conflict areas. A labor movement to empower artisanal women miners in Colombia. Sustainable, community-driven solutions that will make a meaningful difference, and a new generation of problem-solvers and leaders who will drive tomorrow’s innovations.
In this conversation with leaders of the D-Lab, learn how the first two decades of the program will inform what’s in store for decades to come and discover how D-Lab is helping students solve problems in partnership with local communities in Latin America, Africa, the United States, Asia, and beyond.
