Young Social Innovators Activate 2026/27

Young Social Innovators runs Activate as a social innovation programme in which young people identify a social issue and take action on it. That makes the programme more demanding, and more useful, than a classroom exercise built around proposing a good idea. The team has to notice a genuine need, investigate it without reducing it to a slogan, decide what can be changed within a school-year project, and learn from what happens when the idea meets other people. CompeteMap's view is that Activate is especially valuable for students who want a reason to connect research, teamwork and public communication. Its burden is continuity rather than technical specialism: a promising first meeting is easy, while sustained action, credible evidence and honest reflection take organisation. Schools should enter because they can protect time for the work and give students ownership, not simply because the closing presentation looks attractive.