Welcome GIX – a mash up of the best minds to tackle complex problems

Today is a BIG day for Bellevue. And a BIGGER day for the region.

The University of Washington today launched the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) in partnership with Tsinghua University and a remarkably generous seed investment of $40 million from Microsoft.

GIX is a very cool idea. Create a mash up of academic disciplines, industries, and technologies to solve complex societal problems and invent new products in a research setting that challenges status quo solutions.

Tsinghua University is the first Chinese research university to openly collaborate in the US. The University of Washington is pushing project-based learning to new heights. Microsoft is once again showing true civic leadership by serving as the lead investor in this important project.

GIX is actively cultivating additional partner universities, companies, and non-profits. Additional members of GIX will be announced later in 2015.

How does this help our region? Projects like GIX attracts the world’s top talent to the region. Top talent attracts capital. Capital creates companies and funds research, which bring more jobs. That’s very good. But even better – GIX will bring the world’s best minds together to tackle complex problems like metro density, water shortages, pernicious diseases, social inequities, and many others.

This is a great day!

Celebrate loudly and proudly. You live among the most creative and successful innovators in the world and we have only begun to build.

Learn more about GIX at gix.uw.edu or from GeekWire’s awesome post on the topic.

Author

Michael Schutzler
Michael Schutzler is an entrepreneur, engineer, science geek, and first generation immigrant. He is the CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA). Before joining the WTIA, Michael led the merger of Livemocha – a community of 17 million language learners – with the popular education software company Rosetta Stone. He also built Classmates.com into the first profitable social media application, transformed online marketing at Monster.com, and grew the online gaming business at RealNetworks to become a global leader. He teaches part time at the University Of Washington Foster School of Business, serves on several boards, and is an investor in Flowplay, YouSolar, Koru, Moment, 9 Mile Labs, Alliance of Angels, Keiretsu Forum, and Social Venture Partners. As a successful Internet entrepreneur, lead angel investor, and veteran executive coach, Michael has personally invested in twenty-four companies, served as coach and advisor to more than 100 executives, and has raised over $50M in private financing.
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