Singularity University Redesigns & Relaunches Flagship Program for Entrepreneurs and Their Impact Startups

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Singularity University (SU), a global community with a mission to educate, inspire, and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to help solve humanity’s grand challenges, is relaunching its flagship program to solve the global grand challenges. Formerly known as the Global Solutions Program, the new Global Startup Program (GSP) helps innovators and startups positively impact humanity on a global scale. The GSP sits at the junction of exponential technologies, future thinking, and impact, where revolutionary ideas become billion-scale solutions from around the world. The new program has been redesigned to include more startups and inspire them to launch more moonshot ideas. It is more hands-on, transformative, globally accessible, scalable, and impactful, and now available to startups all over the world.

Called “the heart and soul of SU” by SU Co-founder and Chancellor Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist and accurate predictor of technology breakthroughs, the reinvented GSP will find startups around the world and help them grow and scale globally, faster. The new program will be conducted in multiple venues, engage with SingularityU Country Partners’ Innovation Hubs, and show entrepreneurs the power of converging exponential technologies to solve challenges and impact billions. SingularityU Nordic, headquartered in Denmark, will be the first to run a Global Startup Program. To apply for the new spring and fall 2019 cohorts, please visit https://su.org/programs/global-startup-program/.

“If you want to 10x your startup, level up your mindset, validate your products, and gain access to capital, the new and improved GSP is for you,” said Monique Giggy, VP of SU Ventures. “We are looking for startups that want to push themselves to come up with unique moonshot ideas that will each impact a billion people within the next 10 years. We want to help startups launch new industries and supporting ecosystems,” continued Giggy. “Since its inception 10 years ago, successful GSP startups Made In Space, Matternet, Getaround, Modern Meadow, and Basepaws, to name a few, have launched space manufacturing, commercial drone delivery systems, peer-to-peer car sharing, cultured or lab-grown clothing, and cat DNA genetic models to eradicate human disease, respectively.”

“By reimagining our GSP, participants now will tap into the startup ecosystem in hubs like Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Silicon Valley, and others to leverage leading innovation and thinking,” said Rob Nail, SU’s CEO and associate founder. “GSP participants will transform their startups with newly inspired moonshot ideas, accelerate the time to product-market fit, find new sources of funding, and connect with an international community to find potential partners and help catalyze results. The new GSP is global, scalable, and designed for leveling up existing startups quickly.”

The GSP consists of structured, immersive workshops and intensive fieldwork in multiple locations around the globe, as well as continued access to support and resources via a best-in-class connectivity platform.

• Activate - an immersive four-week workshop held in a variety of global locations that teaches exponential thinking, ideation at the billion scale, and storytelling skills through the lens of the participant’s radical idea.
• Accelerate - an immersive four-week program at SU’s campus in Silicon Valley that bridges the path from vision to prototype through customer validation, business strategy, go-to-market planning, and business plan development supported by mentorship and networking.
• Connect - year-long access to SU’s digital platform used throughout the Global Startup Program to connect participants with SU’s ecosystem of mentors, faculty, and staff; innovation tools; deep-dive digital courses; global meetups; and virtual sessions with Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis.

“With an upgraded design, GSP remains the only global program that exposes you to a completely new way of thinking. Many incubators and accelerators focus on building a business plan, go-to-market strategy, and raising capital. GSP encompasses all of those elements, with an added emphasis on global scalability, leadership, and the convergence of exponential technologies,” Nail said. “It’s about developing a new mindset and set of tools to maximize opportunity from technological disruption. GSP isn’t encouraging startups to come up with ideas for the next big mobile app or social network. Its focus is on companies that could change the lives of 1 billion people through clean water, space exploration, disaster relief, healthcare initiatives, and more.”

Since its inception, GSP has welcomed 693 participants, had an impact in 145 countries, and created 1,167 new impact innovations. Eighty-eight percent of the GSP startups that become portfolio companies continue to raise funds following their year with SU.

"GSP was the most beneficial educational experience of my life,” said Libby Falck, co-founder and director of innovation for IDEAco and GSP 2012 participant. “The program’s intensity pushed me to strive for greater impact in everything I do and, since graduating, the SU community has been pivotal in providing connections to advice and funding that have enabled my projects to flourish as never would have been possible before.”

The cost to participate in GSP is $30,000 USD (sponsorship available based on eligibility) and covers program costs for a full year, including accommodations and meals during the Activate and Accelerate stages (outlined above), digital courses, mentoring, and a year-long digital SU Connect membership.

In addition to lifetime inclusion in the SU global community, GSP participants will gain access to SU’s network of leaders and practitioners in disruptive technologies, corporate innovation, entrepreneurship, and investor relations.

ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

Singularity University (SU) is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build a better future for all. SU’s collaborative platform empowers individuals and organizations across the globe to learn, connect, and innovate breakthrough solutions using accelerating technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital biology. A certified benefit corporation headquartered at NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, SU was founded in 2008 by renowned innovators Ray Kurzweil and Peter H. Diamandis with program funding from leading organizations including Google, Deloitte, and UNICEF. To learn more, visit SU.org, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @SingularityU, and download the SU App.

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