Building a network for innovation in service of human needs
The Migrant Impact Network (MIN) seeks to serve the humanitarian needs of the over 100 million forcibly displaced people around the world, and especially in the US, through the use of innovative technologies and novel integrated services. It does this by partnering with non-profit service providers as well as socially-focused tech startups in the context of Notre Dame’s network of faculty, students, and alumni. Grounded by the pursuit of impact but encompassing deep research and education dimensions, MIN is a model for how innovation can serve higher needs, and how academic research can be both applied and conducted in real-world, problem-focused networks.
MIN's core mission is to apply the efficiency and scalability of digital platforms, and the nimble adaptability of tech startups, to the pressing humanitarian needs of the forcibly displaced. Because those needs are multiple, MIN spans a set of projects from supporters to migrant employment and housing. MIN is an approach, and a team, drawing on the deep resources and ecosystem of Notre Dame to do work no one actor can do alone, making it a network rather than a single project.