New innovator challenges open to high school and university changemakers

As part of a host of new challenges open to young innovators in Europe and across the world the search is on for scaleable solutions that can build a better future. Here are three of the latest, now open to high school students, teachers and university students.

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Climate Change Challenge

The 2024 Climate Change Challenge is open to high school students worldwide and led by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and Burjeel Holdings. The Challenge is open to two groups: teams of students and teachers, who have to pitch their solutions across any of these five climate change areas: air pollution, extreme weather, water scarcity, food security, and biodiversity. Student teams can come from a single school, or multiple schools. High school teachers can enter by creating lessons that raise awareness about climate change and encourage students to think of ways to solve it. Finalists will take to the stage in Baku, Azerbaijan during COP29 in November, with the winners invited to Oxford in 2025 to join a climate change programme at Saïd Business School in Oxford. Expenses will be covered for both. 

The deadline to enter is 15 September.

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2025 Wege Prize

The 2025 edition of this international design competition is open to college and university students worldwide. Led by the Wege Center for Sustainable Design at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD), the annual five person team competition asks students to collaborate ‘across institutional, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries to redesign products and systems for a more circular economy’. Teams are asked to identify a ‘wicked problem’ to address and develop a solution: ‘products, services, systems, and more — that builds on core principles of the circular economy’. The top teams win a prize pool of $65,000.

The deadline to enter is 6 October.

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2024 Youth Start-Up Competition (YSC)

This one is open to young pioneers, aged between 18 and 25 years old, and is seeking innovative start-up ideas that can help shape a better future for Europe. Part of the European Commission’s push to promote entrepreneurship, the YSC will choose three innovators to take to the SME Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, from November 18-20, 2024, where they will get the chance to showcase their solutions to a room of potential investors and partners. To enter, submit a short video – no more than three minutes, pitching the idea and a brief business plan.

The deadline to enter is 20 September.

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The post New innovator challenges open to high school and university changemakers first appeared on Innovators magazine.

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