Youth Ideathon 2024: India’s Biggest Entrepreneurship Competition for School Students launched by CBSE  

New Delhi : ThinkStartup, India’s leading entrepreneurship education platform and Management Entrepreneurship Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in association with Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), today announced the launch of the 4th edition of Youth Ideathon (YI24). This prestigious school-level Innovation and Entrepreneurship festival aims to harness creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of young minds across India.

The theme of this year’s Youth Ideathon is “iStartup a Good Thing for India.” The five-stage competition will be held online in the initial stages and is open to all school students across India in two categories: Junior (Class 4 to Class 8) and Senior (Class 9 to Class 12). Students will compete in teams of 3 to 5 members from the same school. It will culminate in a grand finale on October 6, 2024. The Ideathon attracted over 1.5 lakh students from more than 8000 schools in 2023 and aims to have a participation of over 2 lakh students across ten thousand schools in 2024.

Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director (Skill Education & Training), CBSE, Ministry of Education, Government of India said, “Entrepreneurship is an essential pillar of the New Education Policy 2020 and Government of India has taken several steps to build entrepreneurial thinking in all students. Youth Ideathon platform allows students to think bravely and showcase their talents.”

Mamta Kumari, Deputy General Manager, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) said, “Initiatives like Youth Ideathon 2024 play a pivotal role in nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit among young minds. Through our efforts, we have created over 200 internships for school students, providing them with hands-on experience in various fields such as technology, website management, content creation, digital marketing, and student mobilization.”

According to Shivani Singh-Kapoor, Co-founder, ThinkStartup, “If you have to build future job-creators, you have to catch them young, harness their creativity and help them see the power of innovation and entrepreneurship. Youth Ideathon endeavours to empower the next generation nurturing high-potential student ideas with incubation support.”

The Youth Ideathon 2024 is also being supported by industry partners like Esri India, India’s leading Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) company and MediaTek, world’s leading fabless semiconductor company.

Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India said, “We are at a critical juncture where the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. Youth Ideathon 2024 is channelling the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of young minds across India towards addressing pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges. Our partnership with ThinkStartup and CBSE for this event aligns perfectly with our mission to foster innovation and sustainable development.”

Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India said, “Partnering with initiatives like Youth Ideathon 2024 aligns perfectly with our vision of fostering creativity and entrepreneurial spirit among young minds. By supporting such innovative platforms, we aim to contribute to the country’s growth, generating more startups, creating jobs, and cultivating groundbreaking ideas. This knowledge exchange is vital for the future, and we are excited to see the incredible potential that Youth Ideathon 2024 will unleash.”

Sanjeeva Shivesh, Program Director, Youth Ideathon, emphasized, “In this edition, we have built a very exciting frugal startup challenge where we are offering Rs. 1000 cash to Top 500 teams to build a prototype or a small venture. We believe school students have the power to make anything possible. Therefore, we want to direct students’ creativity to build a brighter future for India.”

Youth Ideathon is also being supported by SheAtWork, a one-stop knowledge hub for women entrepreneurs and BRICS CCI WE, the Women Empowerment vertical of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BRICS CCI).

Ruby Sinha, Founder, SheAtWork and President, BRICS CCI WE said, “Youth Ideathon is a unique programme addressing both SDG 4 and SDG 5 goals of quality education and gender equality.  We are optimistic that initiatives like these will help harness the power of innovation and entrepreneurship for a brighter future for women. SheAtWork and BRICS CCI WE will be felicitating the winning idea by a girl student/team in Youth Ideathon 2024.”

Participants will receive certificates, and top teams will compete for incubation grants up to Rs. 100,000. Special recognition will be given to teachers, mentors, and schools with high participation rates. Youth Ideathon, established in 2021 by ThinkStartup and MEPSC, is India’s largest event celebrating startup ideas for school students. For more information, please visit www.youthideathon.in or www.thinkstartup.in