Publication

Youth Innovation Challenge 2017-2022

Long-term Impact Assessment

Description

Since 2017, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has hosted an annual Youth Innovation Challenge (YIC) that invites youth from Canada, Mexico and the United States to submit their innovative ideas and solutions for improving both the environment and the economy in North America. The prize includes seed funding for their enterprise and offers networking opportunities. Since 2020, a one-year mentorship program has also been included as part of the prize. Overall, the competition serves as an opportunity to support and highlight innovative solutions.

The results of the long-term impact assessment highlight that the YIC has proven to be one of CEC’s campaigns that has most helped increase the visibility of the CEC, ensure youth engagement and bring media attention. However, several weaknesses and barriers have been identified over the years and the framework under which this program was developed six years ago needs to align better with the format and scope of similar competitions hosted by other organizations in order to be more attractive and yield more impact. The following sections provide more information on the methodogy used for the assessment, the main findings and key recommendations.

Additional Information