The Social Innovation Lab (SILab) at Instituto Superior Técnico addresses the current gap in the educational system by focusing mainly on frugal innovation (“do more with less”) aimed at solving social problems experienced by several local communities in the world. Mission: (i) Leverage the students’ creativity, integration with external communities, research skills and capabilities to develop sociotechnical innovation and entrepreneurship; (ii) Stimulate the creation of goods and services, which fulfill the needs of local communities and communities in emerging markets; (iii) Actively promote the cooperation between stakeholders, a social responsible mind-set, the empowerment of local communities and business models that truly target world changes. Vision: The SILab vows to become a world-wide connected grid of students, researchers, professors, universities, companies and social enterprises, which will promote solutions towards the well-being of the population in the world.
