Our inaugural program is a 3-week long summer intensive. 

Our Summer Leadership Program can be life-changing. You will experience a summer of challenge, discovery, connection, and growth. During the program you will evolve. And this evolution will not only help you be a strong university applicant, it'll make you a more independent, confident individual.

The Academy of Tomorrow leverages critical thinking methodologies from business schools and leading consulting firms with the human-centred design approach pioneered by the Institute of Design at Stanford. Students will enjoy a rich multi-location experience that exposes them to new communities, transnational entrepreneurship, and some of the world’s most renowned learning institutions.

TRAVEL ITINERARY

We’ll spend the first six days in Vancouver at The Academy of Tomorrow, before departing for China. We’ll be joining our sister group of Shanghai Tech University students on their campus and on a trip into rural China to help a local community. After seven days, we’ll head back to Vancouver for another six days at The Academy of Tomorrow.

JULY 12th - Depart Vancouver to Shanghai  |  JULY 20th -  Depart Shanghai to Vancouver

ELITE PARTNERS

The program is delivered in collaboration with:

• IDEO: Designers of dozens of products for Apple, including Apple III and the very first Apple mouse.

• Stanford University’s D-School: Elite school of innovation that teaches  students to find creative solutions to complex, real-world challenges.
• Shanghai Tech University: Cutting-edge Chinese research university.
• THNK School of Creative Leadership: A leading international school of creative leadership based in Amsterdam, Lisbon and Vancouver.

WORLD-CLASS FACULTY

Our faculty members are elite business coaches and facilitators who collaborate and coach leaders at the World Bank, the United Nations, and with leadership teams from such companies as lululemon, Nike and Calvin Klein. We are proud to feature educators who have taught at such elite universities as Stanford, Berkeley and Harvard.

GLOBAL CITIZENS 

Our intensive, cross-cultural program focuses on leadership development, nurturing a set of flexible, foundational abilities—including communication and collaboration—and complementing these with the mastery of specialist skills, such as research and ideation. Give your child exclusive entry to a exclusive community of the next generation of global leaders and influencers.

THE 4 Cs

Based on significant research into the cognitive and behavioural science of learning, mindfulness and creative leadership, our pedagogy engages students in active learning by doing, interdisciplinary exploration, and real-life problem solving.

FORTUNE 500 COLLABORATIONS

Our pedagogy draws from many fields and  combines the critical thinking methodologies of business schools with the leadership development of top consulting firms and the human-centred design approach pioneered by the Stanford Institute of Design. Our Fortune 500 partners ensure that our hands-on learning is rooted in reality. 

INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ADVISORY BOARD

We enjoy the guidance of an advisory board made up of such creative luminaries as Steve Vranakris, Google’s Global Creative Director, May Lee, Dean of Shanghai Tech and Edward Bilous, Director of the Centre for Innovation in the Arts at the Juilliard School.

The Academy of Tomorrow is focused on helping students develop the skills they need to become broad thinkers, global leaders and innovators. Our intensive, cross-cultural program focuses on leadership development, nurturing a set of flexible, foundational abilities—including communication and collaboration—and complementing these with the mastery of specialist skills, such as research and ideation. 

Based on significant research into the cognitive and behavioral science of learning, mindfulness and creative leadership, our pedagogy is designed to engage students in active learning by doing, interdisciplinary exploration and real-life problem solving.

Classes are conducted as intimate discussion-based seminars and small group work, aimed at developing three core competencies—thinking critically, thinking creatively and communicating effectively—which correlate directly with the ability to collaborate, innovate and lead.

THE LEADERSHIP MODEL

We help young people realize their full potential as individuals and as leaders. Our curriculum balances knowledge with creativity, along with tenacity, critical thinking, resilience, social awareness, and core leadership skills.  We place specific emphasis on the following:

WELCOME TO OUR FUTURE STUDIO

We help participants understand how to generate innovation. We don’t do this by discussing theory or looking at case studies. We do it in our Future Studio–by engaging in real-world open innovation projects.

Future Studio puts leadership competencies into practice by calling participants to work together to solve challenges. Together, we’ll ideate, vision, prototype through iteration, and scale ideas for optimal impact. 

The Future Studio component of our curriculum is about discovery, innovation and creativity that can be learned only by doing.

Working in collaboration with Shanghai Tech University, Stanford’s d.school and the design firm IDEO. During the first week in Vancouver students will learn and practice our innovation toolkit in preparation for their trip in China. The challenge that we will focus on during the time in China will be sustainable agriculture, both urban and rural.

Students will visit urban farms that are changing how people access food, as well as rural farms that double as orphanages and schools. Our participants will have the opportunity to work on the farms, learn about the global food crisis, and teach the orphaned children. 

Learning outcomes: problem solving, critical thinking, idea generation, prototyping, design thinking, storytelling that inspires, presenting to our corporate partners.

OUR EXPERT FORUMS

Forget lectures. At The Academy of Tomorrow, students learn by speaking openly and directly with experts and leading entrepreneurs in a wide variety of topics that young leaders should know about. Students will be supported by workshops on “powerful questions”—questions that will get to the heart of an issue, persuade people of your leadership, gather others to your cause, and reframe an issue in an entirely different way.

Engineered to be interactive, highly dynamic in format and deeply engaging, forums draw from across disciplines to bring the Leadership Model to life and uncover trends that point to openness, serendipity, and opportunity.

Learning outcomes: Learn and practice the power of asking the right questions