Founded in 2018, the Stanford King Center is a joint venture between two institutions: the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (known as Stanford Seed) and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (known as SIEPR). By stimulating and supporting new research initiatives, the center advances a key element of King Philanthropies’ overarching vision: the imperative to turn insight into action.

From support for emerging scholars to large-scale, multi-faculty initiatives, the King Center funds and facilitates data-driven research projects that span both the public and private sectors. The center also offers programs—including hands-on research, experiential learning, and events—to help students explore the challenges and opportunities of the developing world. All of this work reflects the center’s focus on making a real-world impact.

Collaboration is a hallmark of the King Center’s work. The center has faculty affiliates from schools and disciplines throughout Stanford and partners with a wide array of changemakers outside the university. Through conferences and other events, as well as through investments in research, the center promotes a dynamic exchange of insight and knowledge between scholars, policy makers, business executives, and leaders of development organizations. In this way, the center acts as a force multiplier for efforts to confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time: global poverty.