Overview
WIRED Summer Academy sits at the intersection of technology, business, and big ideas — and that overlap is exactly the point. Technology and business aren't separate worlds anymore. Every company your child admires is really a tech company, and every piece of technology worth knowing about exists because someone figured out how to build a business around it. This two-week immersive experience is designed to help your child see that — from whichever side they're coming in from.
Where Tech Meets Business
This program is built for the kid who lives in the overlap — or the kid who hasn't realized yet that the overlap is where things actually happen. Maybe your child is deep into coding, robotics, or AI, but has started wondering how any of it becomes a real product or a real company. Or maybe the pull goes the other way: a budding entrepreneur who wants to understand the technology their generation of founders will actually be building on. WIRED Summer Academy opens both of those doors — and, more importantly, shows your child how closely tied the two sides really are.
The City Is the Classroom
Students split their time between workshops and site visits across NYC's tech ecosystem— WIRED HQ, Techstars, Cornell Tech, Newlab, the IBM Watson Experience Center, and Google Headquarters. These aren't tours. They're structured visits designed to show how founders, engineers, product teams, and investors all operate in the same room — because that's how tech companies actually get built. For a high schooler curious about how technology and business come together, this is a rare kind of access — walking through these places not as a visitor, but as someone learning how the work gets done.
From Idea to Pitch in Two Weeks
The core of the program is a startup project students develop individually or in teams. They identify a real-world problem, research potential users, validate the idea, and build a business plan around it. Along the way, they work through the fundamentals that shape any modern company — startup foundations, design thinking, product development and prototyping, market research, branding and storytelling, the basics of AI and emerging technologies, and how to pitch a product. The technical side and the business side aren't taught separately. They're taught the way they actually work in practice — together. The program ends with students presenting their concept to a panel of industry experts.
Who It's For
The STEM kid who builds things but has never thought about who would use them, buy them, or fund them. The business-minded kid who reads about founders and wants to understand the tech side of what they're creating. The kid already running a small venture — a side project, a store, a channel — who is ready to think bigger. Students don't need a technical background or a business one. They need a real interest in how ideas become companies — and a willingness to see how the two halves of that equation connect.
What Makes This Different
Most pre-college business programs lean academic. This one leans experiential. The WIRED lens trains students to think like industry insiders — spotting emerging trends before they're mainstream, asking sharper questions about new technologies, and understanding the cultural and ethical stakes of what gets built. And the site visits aren't stand-ins for the real thing. They are the real thing — the actual places where NYC's tech economy is being shaped, where technology and business decisions are made in the same conversation.
Application & Eligibility
Open to students entering grades 10–12 and graduating seniors. Applications include a short answer question and current transcripts; test scores are not required. Admission is competitive and reviewed holistically — the committee looks for critical thinkers with genuine interest in the program and strong academic engagement, not a specific profile. Decisions are typically released within one to two weeks.
Cost & Information
- Two-week program
- Grades 10–12 and graduating seniors
- Tuition: $4,995 Day · $6,495 Residential
- Monthly payment plans are available
- Need-based scholarships are available through a separate application