MIT opens Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge for young people ($200,000)

Young people are the future of tomorrow. They hold the empathy, power, and ingenuity to address problems, in their communities, the world, and everywhere in between.

For this reason, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), through its Solv[ED] initiative has designed the Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge to spark a sense of agency in young people, encouraging, inspiring, and supporting them to become problem-solvers in their communities and the world.

If you are aged 24 and under with a passion for making a positive impact in your community and the world, then apply for the global contest.

Focus areas

Education: This includes, but is not limited to, solutions that are:

• Supporting access to high-quality educational opportunities, including individuals in rural, remote, or displaced communities
• Preparing underserved people to learn skills they need for the workforce
• Enabling teachers and educators to support student and/or adult learning

Sustainability: This includes, but is not limited to, solutions that are:

• Reducing carbon emissions from organizations and communities, particularly through clean energy
• Helping communities adapt and build resilience to impacts of climate change such as extreme weather
• Creating goods that are renewable, repairable, reusable, and recyclable
• Promoting access to sustainable and resilient food and water sources for rural and/or urban communities

Health: This includes, but is not limited to, solutions that are:

• Promoting physical and mental health
• Supporting access to effective and affordable healthcare in urban or rural communities
• Enabling the prevention, detection, and management of illness, emerging pandemics, and health security threats
• Promoting health equity; reducing and, ultimately, eliminating disparities in health

Economic Prosperity: This includes, but is not limited to, solutions that are:

• Addressing the gaps in technological and digital literacy necessary to participate in a changing job market
• Creating pathways to upskill, reskill, and retrain workers, as well as connect them to the demands of employers
• Creating tools and opportunities for equitable access to jobs, credit, and generational wealth creation for marginalized communities
• Supporting access to platforms that support temporary, informal, and freelance workers, helping provide stability, safety nets, and security
• Ensuring the inclusion and value of women, low-income and underserved communities in the creation of new technologies, jobs, or entire industries

Evaluation criteria

The Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for you to submit your tech-based solution that:

• Improves learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on
• Supports financial and economic opportunities for all
• Accelerates healthcare access and health outcomes, reducing and, ultimately, eliminating disparities in health
• Takes action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Addresses an unmet social, environmental, or economic need not covered in the four topics.

Benefits of participation

The 10 most promising solutions will be selected as Solv[ED] Innovators. They will receive:

• A share of over $200,000 in prize funding;
• Access to a global network
• Mentorship and coaching from members of the MIT and MIT Solve community

Eligibility Criteria

The Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge is open to anyone, anywhere around the world as long as they are aged 24 and below. Interested applicants can click here to register.

Deadline

Entries close on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.