Representatives from 20 universities convened at Pace University’s NYC Design Factory earlier this month for International Design Factory Week (IDFW2025) and the UnBoxed2025 education conference. The events, held October 6–10 at Pace’s downtown Manhattan campus, focused on interdisciplinary collaboration, design-driven education, and innovation.
The gatherings brought together more than 60 participants from innovation hubs known as Design Factories. These university-based centers promote collaborative learning and real-world problem-solving across disciplines.
“Hosting the Design Factory Global Network’s annual conference at Pace was a dream come true for me,” said Jonathan H. Hill, DPS, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “In my long career in higher education, this is clearly one of the best experiential learning opportunities that students, faculty, and staff can share in that I have ever seen. The hospitality, creativity, and entrepreneurial design thinking processes that Pace showed so clearly demonstrated the excellence of this institution. I was so very proud of Pace.”
Li-Chiou Chen, interim dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, highlighted the importance of global partnerships: “In hosting IDFW2025 and UnBoxed2025, we had the opportunity to showcase Pace’s commitment to advancing student learning through collaboration on real-world projects at a global level. These events created meaningful connections among students, faculty, and international partners that will continue to inspire innovation beyond the classroom.”
Pace University’s NYC Design Factory is part of the Design Factory Global Network (DFGN), a consortium of university-based innovation labs worldwide. Through DFGN partnerships—including with CERN’s IdeaSquare in Switzerland—Pace students participate in initiatives like i2Planet, which focuses on systems-thinking challenges to address complex global issues.
Andreea Cotoranu, clinical professor and director of the NYC Design Factory as well as co-chair of the conference, said: “It was an honor to host the International Design Factory Week and the UnBoxed Education Practice Conference at Pace. These events highlighted the university’s role in a global community reimagining how students learn, preparing them for the future and empowering them to create positive impact in their communities and the world.”
Programming throughout the week included workshops on AI-assisted creativity, sustainable design practices, educational equity, entrepreneurship, as well as interactive sessions such as scenario planning with AI tools.
Christelle Scharff, Seidenberg professor and associate dean as well as co-director of the Seidenberg AI Lab commented: “It’s exciting for Pace to be part of a global network that champions innovation, design thinking, experiential learning, and multidisciplinarity. The UnBoxed Conference and International Design Factory Week were inspiring showcases of creativity and collaboration. I was impressed by how naturally ideas for joint projects emerged. The week provided the perfect setting to turn those ideas into action and build lasting connections among educators and researchers worldwide. We look forward to bringing some of these projects to life.”
Jonathan Williams, clinical assistant professor at Seidenberg School and co-chair of the conference added: “The conference brought together educators who are reimagining what classrooms can look like when we center creativity, empathy, and technology. It challenged us all to think critically about the future of learning and how we design for it.”
Students participated actively during both events by joining workshops, presenting projects alongside peers from other countries.
Lauren DeMaio, Seidenberg alumna who attended both IDFW2025 events stated: “Being part of IDFW2025 reminded me why I joined Design Factory courses and projects as a student—it’s about working with people from completely different backgrounds to solve problems that matter. This week pushed me to think globally and creatively in ways that only the Design Factory can.”
Pace University has campuses in New York City and Westchester County offering degree programs across several colleges including its College of Health Professions; Dyson College; Elisabeth Haub School of Law; Lubin School; School of Education; Sands College; as well as its Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems.
The Seidenberg School provides undergraduate- through doctoral-level programs in computing fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, data science, game development & software engineering while partnering with industry leaders across New York City.
