Global Grad Show set to ‘seek solutions for a better world’

Global Grad Show, the global gathering of young artists and designers, will return to Dubai from 12 to 16 November, with the aim of creating projects that positively impact the planet. Held in partnership with Investment Corporation of Dubai, the event will be the world’s largest and most diverse gathering of universities and graduates working on social impact innovation.

More than 150 graduates from 43 countries are set to travel to Dubai for the event, where curatorial themes will explore the spheres where innovation can create a positive impact, under the categories of The Human, The Home, The Community, The City and The Planet. An expanded exhibition space will host 150 projects from a range of backgrounds, showcasing innovations from universities in emerging markets, including Chile, Uganda, Egypt, Pakistan and Thailand, next to the work of students from global institutions such as Harvard, Stanford and Imperial College, and leading regional institutions such as Zayed University and NYU Abu Dhabi.

The programme includes an ‘Innovating for Social Impact’ conference for industry professionals and academics (Monday 11 November), which will explore how universities can be catalysts for sustainable development across the world.

The new Entrepreneurship Programme, meanwhile, supports graduate projects through their next steps, up to market launch. The programme aims to offer Global Grad Show projects the opportunity to be further developed while attracting young innovation talent around the world to Dubai’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Recently appointed show curator Eleanor Watson said, “Global Grad Show is a coming together of the brightest young minds in the design industry, showcasing projects from over 100 schools this year. The curatorial approach of this year aims to show the connections between different spheres of human existence; our hope is that it will inspire others to think critically about how they live while inspiring all of us to act consciously.”

Entries from around the world include a thermally regulating cocoon, designed for premature babies born in low-income areas or developing countries, from a group of graduates from Nottingham Trent University, UK and an all-in-one container for communities with low resources, that produces energy from solar panels, and panels that condense humidity for air into water, from graduates at Politecnico Di Torino and College des Ingenieurs in Italy.