GMAC’s recently launched Ideas to Innovation Challenge (I2I) presents an intriguing host of possibilities. Let’s take a look at what the I2I program is:

Created in 2008 with a US$10 million commitment, the Management Education for Tomorrow (MET) Fund formalizes and enhances the Graduate Management Admission Council’s long-standing commitment to investing in strategic philanthropic initiatives that benefit business and management education globally.

Ideas to Innovation Challenge

The MET Fund Ideas to Innovation Challenge seeks to find the world’s best ideas for improving graduate management education and then to fund the top proposals, turning the best ideas into active innovation. Open to individuals worldwide, the challenge asks simply: What one idea would improve graduate management education?

This program intrigues me with the simplicity of the idea and the opportunity it presents. It seems very much in the spirit of Ted Talks in that it’s so much more than a mere contest. This challenge is exactly that … a challenge. A challenge to innovate, a challenge to inspire, a challenge to rethink, a challenge to redesign. If the I2I program works as I hope it will, we’ll see ideas that don’t win also inspire significant change within Graduate Management Education and perhaps even business.

Specifically, I hope to see a wealth of ideas offered to address the broad social and economic gaps in the world, and more specifically in this country as it relates to lower-income people and minorities. I hope to see another MLT or PhD project come out of this challenge. I’d hope to see an even more profound idea presented which might integrate the mentorship and support of SEO for high school students with the networking and scholarships of the Consortium. I hope to see ideas that lead to innovation. I hope to see recognition of the intrinsic connection between diversity and innovation. I look forward to seeing ideas that help graduate management programs improve their diversity, and ideas that help diverse candidates understand and pursue careers in business.

I plan to submit my idea. What’s yours?

Submit an entry here or learn more by visiting gmacmetfund.org

Until next time….

Akil