The Copenhagen Denmark Project Center was established over 20 years ago and has had over 100 projects.
- A team of students developed a plan to optimize bicycle parking and control abandoned bicycles in the city.
- Another team worked with the Danish Waste Association to assess how to better recycle discarded textiles.
- One group worked with the Danish Association of the Blind to research and recommend ways to help the visually impaired better access electronic media.
The London England Project Center was created in 1987, and has worked with over 100 organizations on over 450 projects.
- WPI students worked with the Design Museum of London to develop design workshops for youth.
- A youth center lost funding, and a team helped the youth center identify ways to save and generate money.
- A group of WPI students created a web app to help facilitate parking and reduce air pollution.
Other centers exist in Berlin (Germany), Bucharest (Romania), San Jose (Costa Rica), Panama City (Panama), Wellington (New Zealand), Melbourne (Australia), Kyoto (Japan), and many other cities across the world.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) offers its students an extensive global studies program as part of WPI’s Global Projects Program. Over 50 project centers are spread across the world in six different continents. Students live 7 weeks at these centers to complete an Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP). Completing an IQP is a life-changing experience, as students immerse themselves in local communities and develop solutions to problems these communities face. Below is sample IQP work.
The Venice Italy Project Center has been around for over 30 years, and students have worked on various projects to help address the considerable tourism in the city:
- One team of students worked to help document and preserve the church bell towers in Venice. They developed an app to help survey the bell towers. They also developed virtual tours of several towers.
- Another team worked to identify green spaces (parks, gardens, farmland) in Venice to help keep Venice more sustainable.
- One group of students helped build a proposal for tourism management, based on safety and occupancy standards at various tourist attractions in the city.
- Another group worked on designing a web app so that tourists and locals could visit and explore demolished churches..
