Deadline: 24-Jan-23

Are you passionate about making a positive impact in your community and the world? If yes, then apply for Solve[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge.

They believe young people hold the empathy, power, and ingenuity to solve problems in their communities, the world, and everywhere in between. Solv[ED] sparks a sense of agency in people aged 24 and under, encouraging, inspiring, and supporting them to become problem-solvers.

Young leaders like you are passionate about solving problems in your communities and globally.

Benefits 

• Prize funding is available to share among the 10 selected Solv[ED] Innovators. Selected solutions will be announced in Spring 2023 and invited to attend Solve at MIT, which will take place in May 2023. Each of the 10 selected teams will receive at least $5,000 in prize funding, and have the opportunity to receive follow-on funding. In addition to prize funding, selected Solv[ED] Innovators will receive mentorship and other support from the MIT Solve community.

Focus Areas

• The Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for you to submit your tech-enabled solution that:
  • Improves learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on (Learning).
  • Supports financial and economic opportunities for all (Economic Prosperity).
  • Accelerates healthcare access and health outcomes, reducing and, ultimately, eliminating disparities in health (Health).
  • Takes action to combat climate change and its impacts (Sustainability).
  • Addresses an unmet social, environmental, or economic need not covered in the four dimensions above.

Pillars

• The Solv[ED] Youth Innovation Challenge welcomes submissions that address one of Solve’s four pillars: Learning, Health, Sustainability and Economic Prosperity. In addition, we welcome solutions that address an unmet social, environmental, or economic need not covered in the four pillars, see more on that below.
• Learning 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 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 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 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.
  • 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.
  • Provide tools and opportunities for equitable access to jobs, credit, and generational wealth creation for marginalized communities.

Eligibility Criteria 

• Are you age 24 and under? Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, then they want to hear from you about your solution!

For more information, visit https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/solv-ed-youth-innovation-challenge-2