D-Lab

MIT D-Lab works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges. The program’s mission is pursued through interdisciplinary MIT courses, research in collaboration with global partners, technology development, and community initiatives—all of which emphasize experiential learning, real-world projects, community-led development, scalability, and impact assessment.

Academics. D-Lab challenges and inspires talented students to use their math, science, engineering, social science, and business skills to tackle global poverty issues. D-Lab offers more than 20 subjects that introduce students to D-Lab's approach to co-design, design for scale, collaborative design, supply chain management, and business venture development as well as sector-specific courses on energy, mobility, water and sanitation, prosthetics, education, school architecture, and more. Many courses provide an option for fieldwork.

Research. MIT D-Lab’s research team creates and shares actionable findings, accessible knowledge, collaborative research approaches, and tools that support technology-enabled solutions to global poverty challenges. D-Lab's research groups include Food, Energy, Water, Health, Local Innovation, and Lean Research. The team has fieldwork projects in the following countries: Colombia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Innovation Practice. D-Lab’s Innovation Practice group works with diverse partners to develop, advance, and apply participatory innovation as a methodology for tackling poverty. Innovation Practice includes the following programs: D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellowship, Humanitarian Innovation, Inclusive Markets, Innovation Ecosystems, the Practical Impact Alliance, and Global Trainings.

D-Lab Workshop. The D-Lab workshop, the heart and soul of D-Lab, is a place for D-Lab students, fellows, innovators-in-residence, and others to bring technologies for the developing world to life. The workshop includes a large collection of hand and power tools, steel fabrication and welding tools, an open shop with multiple workbenches, and a dedicated wood shop and long-term projects room.

Email D-Lab for more information.