Young Innovators Challenge

In place of the Young Innovators Challenge, which will not be running this academic year, the Scottish Institute for Enterprise is launching I’m an Innovator, a brand new competition celebrating Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016.

SIE want your ideas for businesses, social enterprises or products which could make a difference to how people live in Scotland. The best ideas will win cash prizes of £1000!

Enter online by 06 April 2016 and find out more on the SIE page.

Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) - Competition Details Scotland is a nation of innovative thinkers. From the television to penicillin, Scotland's inventions and discoveries have changed the world, technologically and socially. 2016 is Scotland's year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, celebrating our heritage and lasting contributions to the modern…

Watch the video from our 2015 Winners Showcase Dinner in August. There's news from the 2015 winners and great tips from previous winners who are now working full time on their idea.

Special mention goes to the winners of additional funding; MindMate, Juan Pablo Echenique, EuroBiotix and Kirstin Lamotte.

YIC 2015 Winners Showcase Dinner SIE hosted a dinner in Glasgow on the 27th of August 2015 to celebrate the 38 winners of the Young Innovators Challenge 2015. Our keynote speaker was Annabel...

A selection of photos from the Showcase Awards dinner celebrating the 38 winners of the Young Innovators Challenge 2015. Our special guest was Annabelle Ewing MSP, Minister for Youth and Women's Employment who congratulated all the winners and presented the awards of additional funding.

It's the Young Innovators Challenge 2015 Winners Showcase Dinner tonight in Glasgow! We'll be joined by our keynote speaker Annabelle Ewing MSP Minister for Youth and Women's Employment, and previous winners Rebecca Pick (Pick Protection ), Christopher McCann (Snap40) and Victoria Hamilton (VH Innovation Ltd) who will talk about how they have got on since winning. Our 2015 winners will also find out who will receive the additional funding from our dragons den pitching event earlier this week. Exciting!

It's good to see Young Innovators Challenge winners represented in the Converge Challenge 2015 social enterprise and kickstart shortlist! Congratulations Revive Eco, MindMate, Olda Szewczyk (Smoove) and Ganga Devarapu (Smart Open Syringe Pump)! Not forgetting Pick Protection making the top 10 finalists! Well done, everyone.

Entrepreneur and YIC 2014 winner, Rebecca Pick, has had a big week. She's been featured in GLAMOUR UK, The Guardian and Metro! Rebecca's product, Personal Guardian, was developed during last years competition and will be available to order in the next few months. We can't wait to see what happens next for her and Pick Protection.

Rebecca is a graduate from University of Strathclyde and a former SIE Intern.

Student invents r**e alarm that tells police the victim's location Rebecca Pick, 22, from Glasgow, has invented a new r**e alarm that alerts police and can be used as evidence in court. It works like a burglar alarm and is so small it can be clipped on to the wearer's bra.

“The funding received from the Young Innovators Challenge will be instrumental in helping us launch Power a Life in the UK market and implementing the Micro Drip Irrigation technology in Senegal.”

Bright idea to tackle poverty in Africa A young entrepreneur from Linlithgow plans to reduce poverty in West African communities with little or no resources by providing them with low-cost technology.

Tune in to BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow at 8:45 to hear from Rebecca Pick, of Pick Protection.

Rebecca was one of thirty-three winners of the Young Innovators Challenge in 2014.

YIC 2015 Winner Daniel Donaldson has set up Legal Spark to address a growing problem in Scotland for people who require legal support but can’t afford it.

He is currently crowdfunding at www.gofundme.com/legalspark

Entrepreneur sets up legal practice to challenge absence of legal aid A new social enterprise is being launched to challenge the absence of legal aid for communities across Scotland.

Two of the YIC 2015 winners, Jeremie Warner and Stephen Spiers, have been working on a project to provide sustainable electricity to rural communities in Senegal, Africa.

They will be attending an exclusive YIC 2015 winners workshop next week focused on having the right conversations with the right people to develop their social businesses.

Scottish entrepreneurs help tackle West African poverty Two young Scottish entrepreneurs plan to reduce poverty in West African communities with little or no resources by providing them with low-cost technology to generate electricity and improve farming.

Social Enterprise Awards 2015 I just supported Social Enterprise Awards 2015 on //

"Being an entrepreneur is not just about money but the wider mission of making this world a better place to live in."

A great article from Olga Kozlova, of Converge Challenge, on how Scotland's students are transforming lives through social innovation.

Students really can make a big difference NEW ways of thinking are inspiring ideas embracing art and technology to bring social change, writes Olga Kozlova

Christopher shared his inspiring experience at the YIC 2015 Winners at Bootcamp this year.

You can read about his year since winning YIC in a special guest blog.

2015 New Ventures Winner, Christopher McCann, Takes Over the SIE Blog! Christopher McCann (snap40), winner of New Ventures 2015 and the Young Innovators Challenge 2014 has taken over our blog below to talk about his entrepreneurial journey and gives some great tips fo...

Three quick tips to help you validate, pivot and grow your start-up.

How to Grow From Great Idea to Profitable Business in 3 Steps Success doesn't require perfection or genius. A good idea and a lot of hard work executing the basics is usually enough.

LAUNCH.ed recently hosted its annual Inspire, Launch, Grow awards, showcasing the best student and staff businesses.

Christopher Sladdin interviewed 6 of the shortlisted start-ups for the 2015 Enterprise Award which included YIC 2015 finalists and winners.

The Startup Interview: Inspire, Launch, Grow - Enterprise Award Meeting the six startups selected as finalists in the 2015 'Enterprise Award' at the University of Edinburgh's Inspire, Launch, Grow awards.

The Young Innovators Challenge winners are supported by an exclusive programme of events to help them as they take their ideas from concept to reality.

Find out what happened at the first of these events, the YIC 2015 Winners Bootcamp.

YIC 2015 Winners Bootcamp Thirty eight winners of the Young Innovators Challenge 2015 were announced in May following a detailed application, an inspiring Innovation Weekend and a challenging video pitch. The winners gather...

The YIC 2015 finalists and winners are well on their way to creating a positive social impact with their innovative ideas, but how many students are being held back by these common myths?

4 Myths That Keep Students From Becoming Social Entrepreneurs Joe Shure, co-founder of the Intersect Fund, busts four myths that stop students from becoming changemakers. This is the third post in a series highlighting some of the most high-impact and replicable innovations in social entrepreneurship education through the lens of the 2013 Ashoka U – Cordes Inn…

The YIC 2015 Winners Bootcamp was featured on the STV News at 6 last night. From 15.05 you can hear from two winners from University of Dundee, Ryan Johnston and Sylvester Sweeney, and see the Bootcamp in action!

STV News at Six - Dundee | | STV Player A man has been detained after a woman was assaulted, threatened and held against her will in her home in Fife.

Great news that Social Bite will be opening a new shop in Aberdeen!

Co- founder Josh Littlejohn was on the panel of judges who selected this year's fantastic Young Innovators Challenge winners based on the social impact and sustainability of their businesses.

While the Aberdeen shop is being fitted, you can support a good cause and visit Social Bite in Rose Street & Shandwick Place Edinburgh, or St Vincent St & Bothwell St in Glasgow.

Really pleased to let everyone know that our shop fit in Aberdeen in well on its way. We will be opening on 516 Union St in early - mid July. Please share to spread the word to those in that neck of the woods.

We'd also like to thank Players of the People's Postcode Lottery for supporting us with the funding!

We have just uploaded some pictures from the YIC 2015 Winners Bootcamp. Do you recognize anyone?

Each of the 38 winners were invited to the 3 day residential bootcamp to develop their social innovation ideas and to prepare for them opportunity to pitch for a further £5,000 in August. There was a special appearance from Christopher McCann to speak about his own YIC experience.

The fantastic winners of YIC 2015 are in Dundee today for the Winners Bootcamp. Keep updated through our twitter account and

You can now sign up to the DementCare newsletter to be the first to hear how four YIC 2015 winners are developing the first digital nurse for dementia.

DementCare DementCare is a fun and interactive award-winning application that is specially designed and optimized for elderly people to fight dementia.

Where can you go for social innovation information?

There is no shortage of articles, blogs, toolkits, infographics and even quizzes on starting up. This can make it difficult and time consuming to find good advice.

UnLtd provide a free, comprehensive guide on developing socially innovative ideas. Where else should our fantastic student entrepreneurs be looking?

Free Social entrepreneurship toolkit and advice from UnLtd. A comprehensive toolkit that guides you through developing your social enterprise. Practical advice and tools to help you develop your social enterprise.

Another fantastic Startup Interview with Nicholas Kubera, who was a stage 1 finalist for YIC 2015.

Hear how he created a social enterprise from a love of digital comics and a passion for ethical business.

The Startup Interview: Nicholas Kubera, Founder of IndieShade Talking to Nicholas Kubera, the founder of the indie comic marketplace, IndieShade, about honesty, data privacy, art and his startup journey thus far.

YIC 2015 saw students submit innovative ideas in three categories including green & sustainable energy resources.

The message for World Environment Day 2015 is
'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.'

Considerable pressure exists to maintain energy flows for growing populations with ever increasing technological use and infrastructural demands. Scotland is poised to embrace the potential from renewable sources of energy but much remains to be done. Whilst technological and scientific research continues to offer new opportunities the potential exists to investigate localised power generation and distribution.

We can't wait to see how the YIC 2015 ideas will develop!

World Environment Day 2015 Official Video World Environment Day 2015 Official Video

Find out how students in Aberdeen are improving Scotland's health and wellbeing.

Student entrepreneurs win £12,000 funding boost Six of Aberdeen’s brightest entrepreneurial students have been recognised in this year’s Young Innovators Challenge with an award of £12,000 to bring their socially innovative ideas to life.

The Startup Interviews are a collection of stories showcasing entrepreneurs and their inspiration.

You can hear from two of the 38 YIC 2015 winners on how they are working together to create social impact on a global scale.

The Startup Interview: Helen Williams & Oonagh Mannix, Polorum A chat with the founders of Polorum, a community SMS messaging system for crises, about working in Africa, their startup and their future ambitions.