Laying the groundwork of the C2 Lab at the World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE)

After arriving in Qatar, the C2 team is happy to report we’ve not only acclimatized to hummus & labhneh for breakfast… we’ve nearly completed the set-up of the Lab at WISE!

We arrived at night and were greeted by a city of sky rises and coloured lights. Doha spreads across the coast of the resource rich Arabian gulf and it shows. The city has embraced modernity while keeping the distinct elements of Qatari tradition with Abayas & Thobes and a language incomprehensibly rhythmic to the Western ear.

By day, the city beats with the desert sun. We took shelter in the Qatar National Convention Center where the conference is being held. It’s located in an area called education city (not too familiarly known by cab drivers as we’ve quickly learned). We spent the day in the Majilis, WISE’s networking and experiential learning space and packed all the backpacks with the tools and instructions for the Lab. We’ve met some awesome folks from Auditoire, e-180 (yay braindates!) and other organizations from around the world. Today the speakers were running rehearsals and explored the Majilis networking area where our experience will run. They loved the hands-on nature of our activity and promised to give it a go tomorrow with the participants. Asmaa Alfadala, Director of Research and Content Development at WISE came by the Lab and we talked about how the +1,000 ideas that will be generated could be used towards a project she’s orchestrating at the Qatar Foundation. We love to hear the excitement and impact that the creativity cultivated through these experiences will build not only the content for WISE 2019 but also support the design of a real school. A Minister of Education also came by and asked for some of the booklets and backpacks to bring back to inspire new education programs they are running. He invited us to come to a local school to teach how these collaborative methodologies help to generate new creative ideas. We created a meaningful and playful activity to break down barriers, encourage collaboration and unleash progress. The openness to learn is deeply heartwarming wherever we go in the world and the diversity of people attending WISE 2017 will undoubtedly unleash a wave of impactful progress.

FUN FACT: We found out today that this event is the biggest in the country!

Stay tuned for more thoughts :)