2014 Young Innovator Awards Launched

2014 Young Innovator Awards Launched

13 March 2014 - Yellow was the colour of choice at the launch of this year’s Young Innovator Awards. Over 70 people from the business and education community attended the launch breakfast this morning to hear about the awards and what is planned for this year.

The Young Innovators Awards (YIA) were established in 2009 by economic development agency Priority One’s Instep programme. YIA aims to inspire and engage secondary school students and people under 40 years of age who reside in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty in the process of innovative thinking and problem solving to come up with an idea for a product or service.

A key goal of the YIA programme is to keep developing and enhancing the innovation and creativity-related resources available to students and teachers. This year all resources will be made available through the YIA website www.yia.co.nz.

This year the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic will be promoting YIA to their students and tutors along with the 10 secondary schools in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty and Priority One’s Young Professionals Group. If you live in the Western Bay of Plenty sub-region and have a great idea that could improve the world we live in, log onto the website and register to be in to win. You can also follow YiA activities on Facebook (visit https://www.facebook.com/YoungInnovatorAwards).

The success of the YiA comes down to strong collaboration between Priority One’s Instep programme, key partners Locus Research and Woods the Creative Agency, and the local business and education communities. This year’s sponsors are Careers NZ, Plus Group Horticulture, Page Macrae Engineering, Priority One, Bayfair and Enterprise Angels. The 2014 competition has seen a significantly increased prize pool on offer for an innovative idea that may not necessarily be new but adds value to either an existing product or service. There are also opportunities for students to win an internship and take part in a start-up programme for entrepreneurs.

A wide range of creative and thought leaders from around New Zealand are invited to judge the awards and then participate in the YIA Innovation Forum, to be held on 8 August. This ensures that all stakeholders, from students through to business and political representatives, have the opportunity to engage with the judges.

All YIA entries need to be delivered to the Priority One office on Friday 4th July 2014 by 5.00 pm.

ENDS

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