About Our Organization

Impact The Future (ITF) is an organization that was started by Praja Tickoo, a 12th grade student from Connecticut. With a goal to empower students through the process of Design Thinking, ITF was established to teach the youth how to problem solve, think critically and develop creative solutions to community problems. Our mission is to introduce Design Thinking to schools internationally. Through our 2021-2022 school program, students will select a problem that they have noticed in their environment and work through the process of design thinking to design a strong and effective solution. 

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About Our Founder: 

Praja Tickoo is the founder of Impact The Future and a leading voice for global education reform, working to empower students worldwide with the skills needed to adapt successfully to an ever-changing future. Having intensively studied the design thinking process for the past five years, Praja has determined that it holds the key to cultivating the essential skills of creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration in the next generation of scholars. Praja’s goal is to introduce the principles of design thinking into every classroom, providing all students everywhere with the tools they need to change the world.

In the summer of 2019, as part of a design thinking program, he participated in a collaborative effort to design a better ankle brace for a multiple sclerosis patient. This experience revealed to him the power that young people have to reshape our world, while reinforcing his conviction that problems can only be solved by questioning assumptions and involving those directly affected.

Praja currently serves on the Connecticut State Board of Education representing primary and secondary school students across Connecticut, and informing statewide education policy decisions. He has studied design thinking in association with institutions such as IDEO, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University. Praja has been featured in news articles and podcasts sharing his thoughts on the education revolution and design thinking. He has been invited to speak at conferences and schools around the world. Additionally, he has developed his own design thinking approach and, through his organization Impact The Future, offers an online course that has been used internationally by educators and learners to solve real-world problems.