The world’s most ambitious climate and energy plans are written in dry policy documents, not by teenagers in a web app. But the University of San Diego’s Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education is betting the next generation of solvers needs a head start. Its platform, Pactful, is a quiet experiment in turning the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals into a middle and high school curriculum, one student project at a time [Pactful, Unknown].
A curriculum wrapped in a competition
Pactful is not a typical edtech startup. It is a philanthropic tool built inside a university, which means its unit of progress is a submitted project, not a monthly recurring revenue invoice. The product is a straightforward web app that walks students through a design-thinking process,empathy, ideation, prototyping, impact planning,to develop a social good solution [Pactful, Unknown]. The real engine for adoption, however, is the annual Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge. Teachers are given the curriculum and the tool to help students enter; the competition provides the deadline, the stakes, and the global stage. The 2025 winner was a project called 'No-Needle,' which took the Best Overall Award [Pactful, 2026]. This coupling is the wedge. It turns an abstract lesson on sustainable cities or clean water into a concrete deliverable with a chance at recognition.
The academic spinout model
Because Pactful is a project of the Jacobs Institute, its team reads like a university department roster, not a C-suite. Leadership has included Dr. Lisa Dawley, the founding executive director with a background in learning technologies, and Dr. Perla Myers, the current executive director and a professor of mathematics [University of San Diego, 2026]; [Times of San Diego, 2022]. Rebecca Ottinger runs the program, and Anne Avilez works as a social innovation specialist [University of San Diego, 2026]. The technical build was handled by developer Brito Zerbo [britzerbo.com, Unknown]. This structure brings deep pedagogical credibility and removes the pressure for near-term profitability. Funding flows from philanthropic sources like the Jacobs Family Foundation, not venture capital. The trade-off is a different kind of pressure: sustained relevance depends entirely on continued grant support and educational partnerships.
| Role | Name | Background / Note |
|---|---|---|
| Founding Executive Director | Lisa Dawley, Ph.D. | Led the Jacobs Institute at launch; background in learning tech & online education [University of San Diego, Unknown]. |
| Executive Director | Perla Myers, Ph.D. | Professor of Mathematics at USD; appointed to lead the Jacobs Institute in 2022 [Times of San Diego, 2022]. |
| Program Manager | Rebecca Ottinger | Manages the Pactful program at the Jacobs Institute [University of San Diego, 2026]. |
| Social Innovation Specialist | Anne Avilez | Part of the Jacobs Institute team working on Pactful [University of San Diego, 2026]. |
| Web App Developer | Brito (Brit) Zerbo | Responsible for UX, design, and implementation of the Pactful platform [britzerbo.com, Unknown]. |
Where the wheels could come off
The model faces two distinct ceilings. The first is scale. Reaching 'thousands of classrooms globally' is a commendable start for a university project [University of San Diego, Unknown]. But competing for the attention of millions of teachers requires a distribution engine and product iteration speed that academic grants rarely fund. The second is the innovation itself. Pactful’s focus is on teaching the process of social innovation,the empathy and ideation steps. The risk is creating beautifully documented projects that never move beyond the classroom prototype. The platform includes impact planning, but turning a teen’s idea for clean water access into a deployed solution is a different discipline altogether.
- Funding dependency. Growth is tied to philanthropic cycles, not customer revenue. A shift in foundation priorities could stall development.
- Impact measurement. Success is counted in engaged students and submitted projects. The harder metric,projects that achieve real-world impact,is largely unmeasured.
- Market competition. While no direct competitor is named, Pactful occupies a niche between broad project-based learning platforms and specific STEM competition tools. Its focus on SDGs is unique, but its slot in a school’s budget is not.
For a sense of scale, consider the energy output. If one percent of the thousands of engaged students pursued a career in climate tech or sustainable development, that’s a pipeline of a few dozen new minds entering the field each year. It’s a slow, patient drip of human capital, not a sudden flood. The incumbent Pactful must beat isn’t another software platform; it’s apathy. The default curriculum for most teens still does not include a mandatory unit on designing for the SDGs. Pactful’s job is to make that unit feel less like homework and more like a chance to build something that matters.
Sources
- [Pactful, Unknown] Home - Pactful | https://www.pactful.org
- [Pactful, 2026] Teens and teachers working together to build a better world | https://www.pactful.org/jtic25/
- [University of San Diego, 2026] University of San Diego news article referencing Jacobs Institute leadership | https://www.sandiego.edu/news/detail.php?_focus=78189
- [Times of San Diego, 2022] Article on Perla Myers appointment | https://timesofsandiego.com/2022/08/15/uc-san-diego-names-perla-myers-executive-director-of-jacobs-institute-for-innovation-in-education/
- [britzerbo.com, Unknown] Pactful Webapp, Brit Zerbo | https://www.britzerbo.com/pactful