Going Up : The Design and Innovation Building includes four distinct floors that together transcend the conventional classroom setup and instead create physical spaces for mentorship , relationship building , collaboration and hands-on experience .
FLOOR 4
Entrepreneurship Center
FLOOR 3
The Design Lab
AS USERS MAKE THEIR WAY to the upper half of the building , they enter the Design Lab , which focuses on research , education and community interactions to advance best practices in human-centered design . Here , design thinking reigns supreme , and prototypes are refined for actual , practical use .
With state-of-the-art facilities , cutting-edge technology , and invaluable training and mentorship , the Design Lab ’ s faculty , students , staff and partners remain grounded in designing solutions for real-world challenges . Participants work alongside designers to better understand how products are received by customers . And when the project is complete , participants will have a finished product ready to market and deploy .
“ We tackle the most demanding challenges , disrupt conventional thinking and transform challenges into solutions ,” says Mai Nguyen , director of the Design Lab . “ We feel that designdriven innovation isn ’ t just about progress , but it can be a catalyst for profound , purposeful change .”
Undergraduate and graduate students can develop and apply their research through various multidisciplinary programs and labs . The results include inventions ; partnerships to create new and resilient public-health tools ; and cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence , data visualization and more .
THE FOURTH FLOOR is the Entrepreneurship Center where founders forge transformational connections as startups prepares to launch . It ’ s an important milestone and allows founders to utilize the center ’ s coworking space , talent and more .
“ To have a physical space with all the resources here has given us the ability to refine our technology beyond the research laboratory and create a truly robust product ,” says Edward Jay Wang , an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego and CEO of Billion Labs , Inc ., which strives to equalize access to health monitoring by transforming smartphones into medical devices by utilizing its sensors and computational capacity .
At the center ’ s incubator space , startup founders work alongside other entrepreneurs , creating an environment of networking and idea cross-pollination . And across the hall , founders have access to venture capitalists and angel investors looking for their next investment .
“ We are able to connect and advise early-stage companies that are launching from the DIB ,” says Darek DeFreece , adviser at Bow Capital , an early-stage venture fund founded in partnership with the University of California Board of Regents . “ Founders need places to ideate , create and connect and to translate those ideas into commercial opportunities . From formal to accidental encounters , the DIB does it all in this one place .”
The Entrepreneurship Center hosts law firms , brand agencies , recruitment organizations and community partners that offer their expertise to support the successful launch of new local startups .
The DIB is the place where ideas flourish . Where tinkering is welcomed and where ideas take flight . Its premise — to do things better , to find a better way — has always been part of the UC San Diego ethos . It is now in a physical form and available to Tritons with an idea .
Take a virtual tour of the Design and Innovation Building by scanning the QR code or visit dib . ucsd . edu .
UC SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE 35