Innovate4Impact
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Student innovators presenting their solution

Call for entry 2027

Innovate4Impact

Young minds. Bold ideas. Technology for impact.

A global challenge for secondary school teams using technology and enterprise to create environmental, social, and economic impact.

25-30 July 2027 Edinburgh, Scotland
Choose your route Explore the programme

One problem One team One solution

The challenge

Ideas deserve the chance to become useful in the real world.

Innovate4Impact gives teams a clear way to move from a problem they care about to a researched solution, prototype, venture, community action, and final pitch.

START HERE

Three clear ways to take part.

Each route has a complete online form. Choose the one that fits where you are today.

01

Register your school

Bring Innovate4Impact to your students. Register a school coordinator and receive the official programme pathway.

Open school registration
02

Submit a final project

For teams that have completed their work. Submit the full entry, impact evidence, links, and supporting files.

Open final entry form
03

Become a partner

Offer funding, mentoring, technology, expertise, resources, judging, or a pathway to wider impact.

Open partner registration

Prefer an offline document? View the official PDF and DOCX forms.

2027 challenge focus

Climate action, made practical.
Consumption, made responsible.

How can we use technology and entrepreneurship to tackle climate change and create a more sustainable future?

Explore the 2027 focus
13

Climate action

Understand, reduce, or adapt to climate risks in a practical way.

12

Responsible consumption

Reduce waste, make circular choices, and use resources with care.

THE PROGRAMME

Fourteen weeks to make an idea more real.

The official curriculum guides teams through discovery, research, prototyping, enterprise, community action, campaigning, impact measurement, and pitch preparation.

Students collaborating at an innovation event
  1. 01

    Identify a Problem

    Find a real climate or consumption problem affecting your school, community, city, or country.

  2. 02

    Choose Your SDG

    Connect your idea to SDG 13 Climate Action, SDG 12 Responsible Consumption, or both.

  3. 03

    Develop the Solution

    Use technology and entrepreneurship to create a product, service, campaign, or venture.

  4. 04

    Build a Prototype

    Create something people can see, test, use, or understand: a demo, model, app, service, or pilot.

  5. 05

    Develop Your Venture

    Clarify the users, value proposition, business model, partnerships, and next milestones.

  6. 06

    Measure Your Impact

    Show how your project could reduce waste, emissions, cost, risk, or improve climate awareness.

  7. 07

    Pitch

    Present the problem, solution, prototype, venture plan, and measurable impact to judges.

See the full journey

2027 GLOBAL CHALLENGE

A final pitch is a celebration of the work behind it.

At the Global Championship, teams share solutions linked to the Sustainable Development Goals and show how their research, technology, venture thinking, and local action can become measurable impact.

This is more than a competition. It is an opportunity to turn ideas into action and action into possibility.

Competition overviewSubmit final project

FIND YOUR PATHWAY

Start with the problem that pulls your team in.

All pathways connect to the 2027 focus and help a team make the first practical decision.

01

Climate Action Challenge

Create technology-backed ideas that help schools and communities understand, reduce, or adapt to climate risks.

02

Responsible Consumption Challenge

Build ventures that reduce waste, extend product life, encourage smarter purchasing, or turn unused materials into value.

03

Clean Technology Challenge

Explore AI, renewable energy, IoT, robotics, or smart-city tools that reduce emissions and improve everyday systems.

04

Sustainable Communities Challenge

Design community-led products, campaigns, services, or enterprises that make sustainable living more inclusive and practical.

05

Impact Venture Pitch

Turn a climate or responsible-consumption idea into a credible venture with users, a prototype, and a compelling pitch.

WHAT YOUR TEAM WILL DO

Seven steps from a problem to a pitch.

The challenge welcomes early ideas, working prototypes, and projects already starting to change something for the better.

01

Identify a problem

Find a real climate or consumption challenge that affects people around you.

02

Choose your SDG

Connect your work to SDG 13, SDG 12, or the two together.

03

Develop a solution

Use research, technology, creativity, and enterprise to respond.

04

Build a prototype

Create something people can see, test, use, or understand.

05

Develop your venture

Show how the idea could be sustained, adopted, or taken further.

06

Measure your impact

Gather evidence that shows the difference your project can make.

07

Pitch

Tell the story of your problem, solution, venture, and potential impact.

RESOURCE LIBRARY

Everything teams need to think, build, and show their impact.

Browse all resources
01
Curriculum

14-Week Lesson Plan Curriculum

A week-by-week guide from SDG discovery and research to the final pitch and awards.

02
Championship

Competition Overview

Championship presentation format, annual-report guidance, equipment, awards, and event expectations.

03
Discovery

SDG Challenge Wall

A facilitated activity to move from an SDG to a real problem, evidence, an idea, and measurable impact.

04
Discovery

Personal Problem Interest Card

A practical worksheet to help students identify the local problem they want to investigate.

05
Research

Problem Evidence Sheet

A structured research tool for gathering interviews, surveys, observations, and supporting data.

06
Build

Technology Solution Plan

A planning guide for the solution, technology choices, users, prototype, testing, and responsible delivery.

07
Venture

Lean Business Model Canvas

A worksheet for clarifying customers, value, costs, revenue, partners, and impact sustainability.

08
Impact

Impact Measurement Dashboard

A framework for defining indicators, collecting evidence, and reporting environmental and community results.

09
Pitch

Judge Guide and Scoring Framework

The complete 100-point assessment rubric, pitch expectations, and judging criteria for teams and coaches.

WHY TAKE PART?

Build the confidence to make, test, explain, and lead.

Innovate4Impact lets students learn by building: researching a real problem, testing ideas, creating ventures, and communicating their impact to mentors, industry, and judges.

  • Learn technology and entrepreneurial skills by doing.
  • Build a prototype around a problem that matters.
  • Work with mentors, industry, and other young innovators.
  • Develop research, leadership, and pitching confidence.
  • Measure environmental and community impact.
  • Compete for awards and global opportunities.

STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP

Innovation and creative thinkingTechnology and AI skillsEntrepreneurial thinkingClimate and sustainability knowledgeResearch and problem solvingImpact measurement and dataTeamwork and leadershipCommunication and pitchingDesign and prototypingGlobal citizenship and SDG awareness

HOW IT WORKS

Technology, entrepreneurship, SDGs, teamwork. Impact.

Technology

Students use digital tools, AI, data, hardware, or creative technology to address real problems.

Entrepreneurship

Teams shape ideas into sustainable businesses, social enterprises, or practical community ventures.

SDGs

Projects connect to measurable outcomes for climate action and responsible consumption.

Teamwork

Diverse roles and perspectives help young people research, build, test, and pitch together.

READY TO MAKE AN IMPACT?

Your idea could become tomorrow's climate solution.

Get your team together. Find a problem that matters. Choose your SDG. Start building.

Register your school Submit a final project entry Become a partner