Scholas Lab / Education / Service Design and Workshop Facilitation

Educating for a Better Future.

I collaborated with Scholas Occurrentes, designing and leading Design Thinking workshops for top executives from companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Google to ensure access to education for everyone.

 The story —

Transforming education through community integration.

Driven by Pope Francis, Scholas Occurrentes aims to create a paradigm shift in education by fostering the integration of educational communities. By breaking traditional barriers and promoting collaboration, the initiative seeks to build a more inclusive, dynamic, and meaningful learning experience that empowers young people to engage with the world and contribute to the common good. By integrating technology, art, and sports, the initiative fosters social inclusion and promotes a culture of dialogue and peace through education.

 The challenge —

Bridging the gap between Tech Companies and Schools.

During the workshops, we set out to tackle a major challenge: connecting leading tech companies with the real needs of schools.

In the first session, we analyzed the problem’s context using various mapping techniques:

  • System maps to understand the broader ecosystem.

  • Stakeholder maps to identify key players and their roles.

  • A mind map built around the theme "Pope’s Brain", encouraging holistic thinking.

These exercises were shared and exchanged between groups, blending social, educational, and technological perspectives to generate well-rounded, innovative solutions.

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On the second day, we focused on ideas generation, using matrices to identify valuable solutions that were both impactful for the educational community and feasible from an economic and technological standpoint.

In our final session, we brought the best ideas to life through storytelling-based prototypes, ensuring they were compelling and actionable.

The highlight of the experience was a private audience with Pope Francis, where we had the incredible opportunity to present our ideas and projects. One of these concepts was so impactful that it evolved into a long-term initiative, which we continued to develop alongside Scholas and our team back in Madrid: Scholas Labs.

The idea —

Scholas Labs: Where Innovation meets Education.

During the workshops, we identified entrepreneurs as key players in the process—a powerful source of ideas capable of driving meaningful change. This led us to envision a nonprofit accelerator for educational and technological projects, bridging the gap between entrepreneurial talent, corporate resources, and the needs of the Scholas Network, a virtual community of over 400,000 schools worldwide.

Back in Madrid, we focused on building the right processes to transform entrepreneurs' ideas into practical tools for the educational community. We conducted an in-depth Actors Map analysis and designed several blueprints to ensure a seamless flow—from idea submission to the final integration of the developed tool into an accessible space for all schools.

This is how Scholas Labs was born: a platform dedicated to creating real, lasting impact for schools in need.

We combined visual design and agile development to transform ideas into an open, user-friendly, and accessible platform. Here, the community itself plays an active role in selecting the most promising projects for acceleration through a structured schedule of calls to launch four projects per year.

Selected projects enter our acceleration program, where entrepreneurs receive dedicated support from a team of industry experts, corporate mentors, and essential services, ensuring their ideas evolve into impactful, scalable solutions.

Labs Jam: a global movement for Innovation.

In the first year, we launched the platform as an experimental space, testing different collaboration models by proposing challenges and opening calls for projects from entrepreneurs worldwide. At the same time, we developed a Lean-based acceleration process, ensuring structured support for entrepreneurs at every stage of their projects.

In the second year, to expand our reach and share Scholas Labs' methodology, we organised a Global Jam: a simultaneous event across five cities: Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rome, Miami, and Mexico City. Over a full weekend, participants collaborated on a common challenge, strengthening our community-driven approach.

I had the incredible opportunity to coordinate sessions in Mexico, working closely with passionate and engaged members of the educational community, further reinforcing the impact of this initiative.

Lessons Learned —

Harnessing technology and education to empower children to achieve their dreams.

During its active years, companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft played a key role in the project, contributing resources and expertise to support innovation. The platform received over 800 project submissions, with 15 of them advancing to the acceleration phase.

As one of the project coordinators, I worked closely with entrepreneurs to develop their ideas, connect with corporations, and turn projects into reality. Beyond acceleration, our efforts focused on understanding and addressing the needs of the educational community, bridging the gap between talent, resources, and real-world challenges. Additionally, we prioritised responsible technology use, ensuring that every initiative aligned with the foundation’s values and mission.