Could your business idea change the world?
Here’s your chance to prove it.
Could your business idea change the world? Here’s your chance to prove it.
Applications are now closed for The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025. Applications for 2026 will reopen in:
Applications are now closed for The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025. Applications will reopen in:
October 2025
Want to get noticed, put your ideas into action and make your mark?
The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge—brought to you by Verizon and Unloc—is an annual event centred around finding the best young talent across Europe.
If you’re 16–25 and have a fresh and innovative tech-led idea, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge could help you get your business off the ground—or if you’ve already launched, boost it to the next level.
Previous year’s finalists’ ideas included:
- Wind turbines powered by the airflow of passing vehicles.
- Zero-waste edible biofilm to replace plastic in the silage process.
- A wearable device to optimise performance & reduce physical injury recovery time.
- A breathalyser that analyses organic chemicals and biomarkers to determine lung cancer susceptibility.
- Home-compostable 3D-printed filaments made from algae and waste cooking oils to reduce single-use plastics in the medical industry.
"Never have I felt so empowered at a competition/event by the other finalists and the staff! Don’t just consider! APPLY for The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge!”
Olivia Simpson – 2023 Winner
The 2025 finalists
Previous finalists
Do you have a game-changing tech idea burning inside you? Don’t let self-doubt hold you back! Be inspired by this year’s incredible finalists who dared to dream big. Discover their groundbreaking innovations and ignite your own entrepreneurial fire. Join us live to witness the crowning of the next tech superstar!
Aleksandra Daniljuk
AquaRenew
Luisanny Martinez
Skomb-By-Tex
Marta Bernardino
Trovador
Sebastiaan Schalkwijk
Solar Sub
Zain Sumdani
Exoheal
2025 Ignite Category Winners
£1k for Ignite Prize winners
Our Ignite Prize recognises those ideas that aren’t yet as advanced as the entries for the main prize – but still show great promise. There’s a cash prize of £1,000 (1,175€) of each of the three best innovations. Below are the Ignite categories recipients for 2025:
The prizes
The prizes
One-to-one mentorship
You’ll be paired with an enterprise mentor, who will create an individual plan focused on your key priorities. This could be addressing knowledge gaps or helping match you with contacts or services to help get your business off the ground and into orbit. Along with all finalists, you’ll also get a series of exclusive masterclasses with a variety of industry experts; last year’s masterclasses included business finance, legal structures & R&D.
Cash award of £10K (11.75K€*)
The overall winner will receive a £10,000 (11,750€*) grant to help accelerate their business idea or start-up..
* Approximate Euros equivalent. The actual prize will be calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of the award.
Global One Young World Summit
The winner will also get a trip to the One Young World 2025 Global Summit in Munich. This annual event brings together many of the brightest young leaders from 190+ countries and 250+ organisation. The agenda is packed with events including speeches, workshops and networking events with influential political, business and humanitarian visionaries.
The judging criteria
The judging criteria
Applications will be judged on three key factors:
Is it innovative?
- Is the idea unique?
- Does it have a clear unique selling point?
- Is the technology solving the problem in a creative way or filling a gap in the market?
Does it improve sustainability?
- Will the venture improve people’s lives?
- Will it meet social or community needs in a new way?
- Does it meet or sustain a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)?
Is it viable?
- Can the plan achieve what it states it will do?
- Does it operate within the budget/ resources currently held or will acquire?
- Is the idea investment ready?
- How will you use the funding if successful?
How to apply
How to apply
Requirements
Applying is easy:
- Simply record a short video (at least 60 seconds but no more than 90 seconds).
- Remember to explain how your idea meets the three criteria.
- Hit the “Apply now” button.
- Fill out the application form and submit your video.
Then sit tight, finalists will be announced in early February 2025.
Eligibility
Applicants must be:
- Between the ages of 16 and 25 years on 1 February 2025.
- Residents and/or citizens of the U.K. or the continent of Europe.
- Immediate family members of the judging panel are not eligible to apply.
- Previous entrants are welcome to re-enter, but previous finalists are not eligible.
Business proposals must:
- Be legal in all mainland European countries.
- Not have the purpose of political lobbying.
- Be the applicant’s own idea.
- Not infringe on the copyright, patent or intellectual property of others.
- Be submitted in English (both written and video).
Businesses must be either:
- Pre-start (not yet trading).
- No more than three years old.
- Have had an annual turnover of less than £100,000 (120,000€) in its most recent financial year. This includes recipients of grants & donations.
Timeline
Timeline
Insight from past finalists, judges and mentors
Insight from past finalists, judges and mentors
Find out more
About The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge
About the appllication process
The benefits of entering
The sponsors
At Verizon, we create the networks that connect people to the things they love, be it businesses to consumers; work teams to work teams; or employees to charities.
We’re problem-solvers, engineers, technologists, innovators and thought-leaders who create the networks that move the world forward. Networks that connect anything to everything and everyone to anyone. Networks built for innovators, entrepreneurs and anyone with the ambition to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
Our story has been hundreds of years in the making and today businesses use our award-winning networks to make breakthroughs in immersive retail experiences and virtual fashion shows, through to remote healthcare and building revolutionary factory infrastructures to deliver the promise of the digital world.
Unloc is a dynamic social enterprise on a mission to empower young people to be innovative change makers. We strive to encourage entrepreneurial thinking amongst 16-25 year olds, help grow their skills, get a handle on their ambitions and promote alternative career pathways.
Through our wide range of engaging programmes, academies, and courses, as well as our physical Changemaker Studios spaces, digital offer, and touring roadshows across the UK, we provide young people with the confidence, creativity and skills required to be the changemakers of tomorrow.
Through the Verizon and Unloc partnership, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge provides an extremely valuable platform for young people across Europe to promote their creative business ideas, and take their first bold steps into a promising new future.
Verizon UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales #02776038. Registered address Reading International Business Park, Basingstoke Road, Reading, RG2 6DA.
Unloc Learning Limited. Registered in England and Wales #08578126. Registered address c/o Portsmouth Guildhall, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2AB.
Verizon
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