NIC X-Labs
Students and faculty take on real problems brought by people and businesses across North Idaho.
What is NIC X-Labs?
NIC X-Labs is where students and faculty take on real problems that people around North Idaho actually need solved.
Teams take on problems that local people and businesses bring in. They start by going out and talking to the people who actually live the problem, build something small to test what they heard, and keep what works.
The X is where people, ideas, and disciplines cross. That is where the work happens.
People Groups
Who X-Labs is for.
Students
Do real customer discovery, build MVPs, and leave with a portfolio of work that actually shipped, not just class projects.
I'm a studentFaculty
Plug your course into a live problem and coach students through discovery and build-measure-learn.
I'm facultyCommunity
Bring a problem you live with. Be the person a team learns from, and builds for.
I have a problemHow it works
From a sponsor's problem to validated work.
- 01
Source the problem
A sponsor brings a real problem and the people it affects.
- 02
Get out of the building
Teams go talk to the people who live the problem instead of guessing at it.
- 03
Map the canvas
Lay out who the work is for, what they need, and who's involved, all on the canvas.
- 04
Build an MVP
Make the smallest thing real enough to put in front of people.
- 05
Test and learn
Measure what happens, then pivot or persevere.
- 06
Deliver and share
Hand off what works, and what we learned getting there.
Featured projects
The proof is the work.
University Innovation Fellows (UIF) - 1st Annual NIC X-Labs Project
The North Idaho College Innovation Fellows (August 2025–March 2026) used human-centered design thinking to transform the siloed MyNIC platform into a searchable, two-way communication hub. By collaborating with industry partners via an AI Think Tank, the team co-designed the March 7 AI Hackathon to bridge the gap between classroom learning and durable workforce skills.
X-Labs
3 students · 0 faculty
Project ARISE
Automated the 3D scanning/QA process for aerospace manufacturing using 3D printed grippers and a StandardBot cobot.
ATC
3 students · 0 faculty
OpenET Data Integration
Pulling OpenET data from an API (using Python) and analyzing it against precipitation for agriculture and water budgeting.
Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center
2 students · 0 faculty
The job of a learner
What we ask of everyone in the room.
Get out of the building
Start from the people and the problem, never the solution.
Listen for jobs, pains, and gains
Hear the real need behind what people ask for.
Test every assumption
Treat each belief as a hypothesis, then go test it.
Match what we have to what people need
Connect what the college can offer with what the people we're working with actually need.
Ways to get involved
Find your role in the discovery.
Sponsor a problem
Bring a real problem and the people it affects. We'll put a team on it.
Go →Join a team
Students and faculty: do the discovery and build on a live project.
Go →Learn the tools
Workshops on mapping the canvas, talking to people, and building MVPs.
Go →Partner with NIC
Mentor a team, open doors to the people they need to talk to, and help the work happen.
Go →Upcoming events
Come see what's on the wall.
No events scheduled right now. Check back soon.
Partner & community proof
The work matters because someone is waiting for it.
“I came in thinking I already knew the problem. The team went and talked to the people I serve, and showed me they were stuck on something I'd never even named. Then they built something that actually helped.”
“They talked to us before they built anything. By the time we saw the first version, it already fit how we actually work, because they'd asked us what we needed instead of guessing.”
“My students had somewhere to put their assumptions and a reason to go test them. When the evidence didn't back up their first idea, they changed course, and they could tell you exactly why.”
“I thought I was going to design a logo. Instead I spent two weeks talking to the people who'd actually use the thing, and threw out my first idea. What we shipped was the version the evidence pointed to, and it mattered, because someone was waiting on it.”
X-Labs out there
The work travels beyond the lab.
Got a real problem with real people behind it?
Bring it to us. We'll put a team on it, start by talking to the people it affects, and figure out what actually helps.