About Us

OpenIDEO is a place where people design better, together for social good. It's an online platform for creative thinkers: the veteran designer and the new guy who just signed on, the critic and the MBA, the active participant and the curious lurker. Together, this makes up the creative guts of OpenIDEO.The OpenIDEO Student Chapter was started in September 2011 to bring the concepts of design thinking and brainstorming to the Poly community. The idea of involving students in the OpenIDEO community was floating around on the platform and we were inspired to be the first ones to start a university chapter. 

With the help of Professor Anne-Laure Fayard, our Advisor, we successfully launched the group with a workshop where students from Poly worked on a challenge sponsored by Amnesty International. We hold meetings every week where we brainstorm and design solutions together for the current social challenge on OpenIDEO. We also participate online and collaborate with a lot of great people from across the world.

After getting amazing feedback and support from Ashely Jablow, the community manager at OpenIDEO, we decided that this semester, we would include the students, staff and faculty in an ambitious process to redefine the campus experience as a whole. This is how the My Vibrant Campus challenge was born. We wanted to put ouropen innovation methodology and design thinking philosophy experience into practice. Not only do we want Poly students to learn it but also to have a tangible outcome that can improve our little community and help foster a better campus life. That is our vision.

To know more, or just to chat, feel free to contact us on openideo@poly.edu. Also, here are our individual contact addresses:
Ashwin Gopi: ashwingopir@gmail.com
Lei Niu: lei.niu5@gmail.com
Alan Hyman: alan@tekperts.com