WSA Young Innovators
The WSA Young Innovators Award is an open call. The participation in the WSA Young Innovators is open to any entrepreneur, company, student group or project team - at least one of the founding members and the majority of the team must be under the age of 26 (born on or after January 1, 1996).
- Eligible for young citizens of all UN member states, WSA Young Innovators is open to every start-up, social entrepreneur, NGO, student or individual!
- The participation in the WSA Young Innovators is open to any entrepreneur, company, student group or project team - at least one of the founding members and the majority of the team must be under the age of 26 (born on or after January 1, 1996).
- Submissions for the WSA Young Innovators can contain all mobile and web-based projects, such as: apps, web pages, applications for wearables, kiosk installations, SMS based products, games and interactive productions. There is no limitation regarding the platforms or channels the projects work with.
- All submissions have to be launched products. No drafts, ideas or unfinished projects can be accepted.
WSA database submission guide for applications
The application procedure for the WSA & WSA Young Innovators requires detailed information on your product that you have to provide in the WSA Database.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
- Please be short and precise and make your digital project easy to understand. Avoid overly long sentences and complicated technical terms.
- Please fill in your application only in ENGLISH.
- Please make sure that the URL to your project/product and the e-mail you provided works!
- Please be aware that an international jury is evaluating your project. E.g. if your project cannot be downloaded from the Play Store in some countries, please make sure that you give enough information, provide screenshots or a comprehensive presentation for the jurors.
- We advise to first do your application in a word document and then copy paste to the database for easier structuring.
- WSA tries to keep the application as short as possible, hence we advise to fill in all fields, even if they are not obligatory.
- Please read the Rules and Conditions section carefully before applying. By submission of a project, producers accept the Rules and Conditions of the WSA contest!
WSA YOUNG INNOVATORS DATABASE MANUAL 2022
Tips and tricks for your application
DO YOU HAVE AN EXPLANATORY VIDEO ABOUT YOUR PROJECT?
- Please provide a short video about your project. It should be short and explanatory, giving a good impression about what your project is about.
- Jury members prefer to view a video to get a first impression and to understand what your digital innovation is about before they go into screening the text provided.
- If possible, the video should be in high resolution, but can be also a simple video showing your digital innovation, or a marketing video you have.
- The video is not obligatory, but we highly recommend it.
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF YOUR DIGITAL PROJECT SOLUTION
- Short description of your digital solution (2-3 sentences).
- This should give the jury the first impression about your digital solution, what issue does it solve and a good summary.
- WSA Young Innovators office will use this text as a basis for PR, promotion on social media or the WSA webpage.
WHICH PROBLEM DO YOU SOLVE WITH YOUR PROJECT?
- Please describe the concrete problem that your project is solving.
- Give the jury a concrete summary of what issue your product solves, which issue it addresses and why it makes an impact.
TELL US MORE ABOUT THE LOCAL CONTEXT OF YOUR SOLUTION
- WSA Young Innovators is about local content – explain why your solution is relevant locally and how it makes an impact in your country. Make sure to specify the local circumstances and help the international jury to understand why your solution is locally relevant.
HOW DO YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR PROJECT?
- Concretely, how are you solving the described problem? Describe what your project achieves/aims for, give details on how it works.
- Please provide in this field comprehensive, detailed information about your digital project.
- Please summarize the most important aspects of your project in a nutshell. It should give the jurors a short overview about your project, give an easy insight into the purpose of the project and point out the general outlay.
- Please be precise and on point, and give a solid impression on your project.
WHAT IS MOTIVATING YOU AND YOUR TEAM?
- Tell the jury members what is motivating you and your team?
- Please explain what you want to achieve with your digital innovation & why you are doing it. What is your motivation, what are the goals you pursue with your project? Tell the jurors what is motivating you, which problem you try to solve with your digital project and which goals you aim to achieve.
STAGE OF YOUR PROJECT
- Please let us know in which phase you are with your project. Select the what fits best to your project phase.
COMPETITION/COMPARISON - WHO IS DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR?
- Who are your competitors? What´s your comparative advantage / USP?
- Do you know your competitors and who is doing something similar?
WHAT IS/ARE THE TARGET GROUP(S) OF YOUR PROJECT?
- Please be as precise as possible (e.g. young mothers, children, unemployed, specific regions)
- Who are the users?
- What is the intended impact?
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR TEAM!
- Introduce yourself and/or your team to prove you fulfill the youth criteria.
- Do you have an advisory board, mentors, investors?
- Who is your team? What’s your governance structure? How many people are working for your project? Who is the leading team?
- This is why we would like to learn more about yourself and/or your team. Give some information about your bio/personal experiences and describe the structure of your team, if applicable.
IMPACT AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUR PROJECT
- What is the impact of your project?
- Which milestones have you already achieved? (e.g. number of costumers, users, partners, countries...)
- What is the measurable impact in your community so far?
WHICH OF THE 17 UN SDG(S) ARE YOU TACKLING WITH YOUR SOLUTION?
- What are the Sustainable Development Goals your project is actively trying to solve?
SUSTAINABILITY / BUSINESS MODEL
- How economically sustainable is your project over the long term?
- Share some information about your business / revenue model.
WHAT IS THE DIGITAL COMPONENT OF YOUR PROJECT?
- Leave blank if obvious.
DOES YOUR PROJECT INVOLVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TECHNOLOGIES?
- AR; VR; AI; Big Data; Blockchain; Deep learning; IoT; Wearables; 3D Printing; NLP; Robotics; None of the above.
IF NECESSARY, PLEASE SHARE SOME INFORMATION IF AND HOW THE JURY CAN TEST YOUR PROJECT
- Please share some information if and how the jury members can test your solution. Provide login data/download links/tutorials etc.
- Please provide some tips for the jurors on how they should navigate through your solution. This is the section to pinpoint which areas/sections the jurors should have a special focus on.
WHAT´S NEXT? WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS FOR YOUR PROJECT?
- Let the jury know, what are your upcoming plans in terms of: development of your project; access to new markets; funding; new technologies or services.
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE WSA YOUNG INNOVATORS?
- E.g. webpage, social media, name of WSA Youth Ambassador...