Reading Time: 10 minutes

APPLY NOW!!!

DEADLINE
The deadline to use for the autumn 2021 program is June 1st, 2021.

FORMAT AND DURATION
The Fall 2021 Watson Semester Accelerator program are going to be offered during a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual participation options. The in-person format is out there only to those based within the U.S. and can be limited to 12 Scholars. Admissions decisions are going to be made on a rolling basis. U.S. based individuals are encouraged to use early to secure an in-person spot.

The program takes place from August 23 to December 10, 2021.

ABOUT
The hybrid Watson Semester Accelerator may be a program for school students, recent graduates, and gap-year students with an early-stage venture/project and a passion for impact.

During the 4-month program, a cohort of next-generation innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs from across the world convene in person and virtually to tackle complex problems and forge lives and careers of impact. From global climate change to social justice and from poverty to access to quality education, Scholars selected to the hybrid Watson Semester Accelerator leverage training, mentorship, and community to accelerate their ventures and unleash lives of impact.

Training
Intensive courses and workshops focused on the hard and soft skills of entrepreneurship and transformative leadership.

Mentorship
Every student is paired with mentors in their field to challenge their assumptions, enhance their perspective, and expand their impact.

Community
Students join various cohort with members from every corner of the world, a spread of experiences, and a standard goal to impact the planet.

OVERVIEW
Our hybrid program allows us to bring the Watson Semester Accelerator to Scholars across the world, cash in of opportunities only available within the virtual space, also provide the in-person experience for U.S. based scholars who will enjoy the connections found within the vibrant entrepreneurial community in Boulder, Colorado.

The courses, mentorship, master courses, and community are going to be delivered in a combination of in-person and virtual formats. Synchronous activities will happen between 9:00 AM-12:00 PM Mountain Time. The time commitment for participating in this program is a mean of 42 hours per week for 16 weeks, which incorporates class time, workshops, Master Courses, and doors of sophistication work on your ventures and projects.

Synchronous
Entire cohort experiences events together at an equivalent time. there’ll be approximately 9 hours of synchronous programming per week.

Localized Synchronous
Small student pods grouped by geography convene at convenient times consistent with time-zone for various small-group events. there’ll be approximately 4 hours of localized synchronous programming per week.

Asynchronuous
Stdents complete work/experience individually at their own pace, given specific due-dates and clarity of outcome and quality expected. there’ll be approximately 29 hours of asynchronous content to finish per week.

COURSES
The Watson Semester Accelerator curriculum was developed by examining best practices in supporting entrepreneurs worldwide and consolidated into a curriculum that gives students with the hard and soft skills, methodologies, and frameworks required to successfully grow a venture and lead an impactful career. Each course is led by one among Watson Institute’s Preceptors, who themselves are accomplished entrepreneurs, leaders, and expert facilitators.

Transformative Entrepreneurship
This course is meant to equip students with the hard skills, tools, and knowledge to develop as entrepreneurs and accelerate a venture.

Watson has licensed the curriculum of Uncharted, which may be a leading educational program for entrepreneurs globally, having worked with 545 ventures who are creating impact in 96 countries.

Transformative Entrepreneurship is split into three sections: Business Model Validation, Funder Readiness, and Team Building.

Transformative Action
The highly experiential Transformative Action course focuses on the soft skills and private development at the core of Watson Institute’s curriculum including: courage, resilience, creativity, grit, leadership, and transformative communication.

Transformative Action guides students through the method of overcoming key challenges faced during the method of building an impactful venture and becoming transformative leaders.

The course is predicated on the principles of the Transformative Action Institute and is very interactive, experiential, and dynamic.

Watson Lab
This course is meant for college kids to find out and apply hard skills necessary to raised understand the market they’re looking to enter; design, test, and implement aspects of their venture model; practice pitching and communicating their venture with investors and partners; and graduate from Watson Institute with tangible assets to accelerate their venture and launch an impactful career.

Students learn, practice, and apply skills to their ventures through weekly, guided experiments, challenges, and hands-on assignments. Lab is split into three sections: Clarity, Money, and other people .

Master Courses
Watson Master Course Teachers are the world’s foremost leaders, entrepreneurs, and practitioners. Master Courses may range from a hearth chat to an interactive workshop, and revolve around sharing best practices, also as learnings and failures. hebdomadally a Master Course Teacher will share their entrepreneurial journey and knowledge followed by one on one mentorship sessions with the Watson students.

Meet Some Previous Master Course Teachers:

Jerry White
Jerry is that the CEO of worldwide Impact Strategies Inc. and therefore the Co-Chair of worldwide Covenant Partners.

He is known for co-leading high-impact campaigns including the historic International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

He helped found Survivor Corps, formerly Landmine Survivors Network, created by and for survivors to assist victims of war rebuild their lives.

Erin Schrode
Erin may be a citizen activist, entrepreneur and storyteller.

Since co-founding Turning Green in 2005, she has developed eco education and action platforms to inspire, educate, and mobilize many students and therefore the global public.

She became the youngest person to run Congress working to redefine civic engagement, reinvigorate public service, and expand the definition of politician for a generation and a nation.

Tom Chi
Tom has worked during a wide selection of roles from astrophysical researcher to Fortune 500 consultant to business executive developing new hardware/software products and services.

He last served because the head of product experience at Google X developing technology like Google Glass and Google’s self-driving cars.

Prior to that, he played a big role in Yahoo! and Microsoft projects like Outlook.

MODE OF OPERATION
Throughout the program students participate in structured and unstructured engagements with one another , Watson Institute staff, mentors, Master Course Teachers, and therefore the broader Watson Institute community. The result’s a lifelong network of peers, friends, and partners that has the broader Watson Institute alumni network across the world .

All Hands On Deck
All Hands On Deck (AHOD) may be a weekly meeting between the whole Watson staff and cohort, inspired by Google’s All-Hands meetings.

This gathering is a platform to share cohort, community, and event updates. Typically we also share insights, progress, and learnings from the past week with one another .

One-on-One Meetings
One-on-one meetings may be a staple of the Watson Institute experience. Students have weekly meetings with Watson staff, their mentors, course instructors, and often, Master Course Teachers.

Within the primary fortnight of the program students are paired with mentors from the Watson Mentor Program that aligns with their field focus. Meetings with Mentors, staff, and Preceptors are often centered around assisting students with aspects of their model, sharing experiences and perspectives, and bouncing ideas.

Community and Collaboration
Community is one among the pillars of the Watson Institute experience. it’s rarely that a various cohort of young leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs from across the planet convene through a mixture of physical and virtual mediums.

Watson Scholars come from diverse backgrounds and experiences but share a passion to form an impression within the world and use entrepreneurship because the vehicle to try to to so. Watch this message from the Spring 2020 cohort.

ELIGIBILITY
This program is for early stage entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders with a bias towards action and therefore the gritty idealism required to unravel complex problems.

Founders within the early-prototyping stage are the foremost well-suited for the Watson Semester Accelerator within the Fall and Spring. Early prototyping means you’ve got completed initial research on the project and have designed and put to check aspects of your business model. additionally , at this stage you’ve got developed early versions of the service or product that you simply are getting to launch. you’ll have revenue or funding streams at this stage, but the project/venture isn’t yet self-sustained or scalable.

For more details and application, click here.