About us

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovators Through Proven Excellence

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The Global Innovation Race represents the culmination of over two decades of pioneering STEAM education excellence by Digital Media Academy (DMA). Since 1999, when DMA began as the Academy for New Media at Stanford University, we have been at the forefront of preparing students for a digital future. What started as an innovative program for K-12 educators and high school students has grown into a global movement, impacting over 500,000 students and operating in more than 1,000 schools worldwide. Our programs have graced the campuses of the world's most prestigious institutions - from Stanford and Harvard to Oxford and NYU - establishing DMA as a trusted leader in technology education that educators worldwide rely on.

Where Innovation Meets Global Impact

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GIR was born from this rich legacy of educational excellence, created through the visionary collaboration of André Nudelman, Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University Graduate School of Education Lemann Center, and Glenn Fajardo, DMA's Chief Learning Officer and Lecturer at Stanford's d.school. Together, they recognized that today's students need more than technical skills—they need the ability to think across cultures, solve complex global challenges, and collaborate in an AI-driven world. GIR brings together students aged 13-17 from multiple countries, combining DMA's proven STEAM methodologies with cutting-edge design thinking, entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley.