7 Steps to Winning the Technovation Challenge as a High School Student
If you care about entrepreneurship in high school, participating in a competition lets you show colleges that you take initiative, care about real problems, and enjoy building tech solutions. The Technovation Challenge is specifically for girls aged 8–18, helping you build networking, analytical thinking, and problem solving skills. Participating can also build relationships with like-minded peers, receive valuable mentorship, and determine what careers you’re interested in pursuing.
One such contest open to high school students interested in tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship is the Technovation Challenge!
Why should I participate in competitions like the Technovation Challenge?
Participating in advanced, global contests like Technovation can train you to think like a founder: testing ideas, talking to users, and building a simple version of your product. Paid internships add another layer. A stipend or other compensation means you can focus on learning while you explore fields that interest you.
In this guide, you’ll learn the seven steps to winning Technovation and how we can support your journey.
What is the Technovation Challenge?
Technovation Challenge, also called Technovation Girls, is a global technology and entrepreneurship competition for girls ages 8–18. You will join as a part of a small team, spot a real problem in your community, and build a mobile or AI-based app to address it. Along the way, you will learn coding, AI basics, and business skills through Technovation’s guided online curriculum and tutorials. You will have mentors, chapters, and clubs to support you as you move from an idea to the finished product.
The Technovation Challenge runs each year and ends in a worldwide competition. You and your team will submit your code, pitch video, and business plan to a panel of judges. Teams will compete in different age divisions, so you’re compared with students at a similar stage. Top teams will advance to regional and global rounds, and you may even get the chance to present your solutions at a global showcase event.
What are the Rules of the Challenge?
The Technovation Challenge submission rules require that you submit the materials needed for judging and feedback and follow specific guidelines for originality and fairness.
To start, all items judges review must be in English or have English subtitles, though apps themselves can include text in other languages, such as buttons or labels.
You may use publicly released libraries and tools, but you must also develop original code, and every submission must include a source code file for mobile or web apps.
For mobile submissions, the project must include a mobile app prototype even if additional components like hardware or VR are used.
Plagiarism is not tolerated; copying another person’s exact ideas, code, apps, or business plans will lead to disqualification, and you should always cite references and give credit for research and source materials.
All submissions and intellectual property belong to you and your team submitting them.
For mentors, the rules specify that mentors cannot write or produce any part of the submission (including code, business plan, or videos), cannot take credit for students’ work, and cannot receive any portion of the students’ prize money.
Mentors must support and guide without directly contributing to the submitted materials.
Finally, judges review all submissions based on a published rubric, and scores are final with no appeals.
What are the Prizes of the Contest?
At the global World Summit, judges will select three Grand Prize teams (one from each division), and each Grand Prize-winning team will receive a grand prize, which will be revealed at the event, plus a $750 USD/person educational stipend. The other 12 Finalist teams (not Grand Prize winners) will receive a $500 USD educational stipend per team member.
In addition, the 15 teams will be awarded Regional Honors, and each member of those teams will receive a $250 USD educational stipend. There are also special prizes such as the EmpowerEd Excellence award (for teams addressing education-related challenges) and the Climate Award (for teams addressing climate change), though the Climate Award is not associated with a monetary prize.
Who is Eligible to Participate?
To participate in the Technovation Challenge, you must meet the requirements below -
You must be between the ages of 8 and 18 as of August 1
You must identify as female, transgender, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming and want to be part of a female-identified environment; if you are assigned male at birth and identify as male, you are not eligible.
To participate, you must create or join a team on the Technovation online platform.
Teams must consist of 1 to 5 students, and each student may only be on one team.
Competition divisions are based on the age of the oldest student on the team as of August 1:
Beginner Division: 8–12 years
Junior Division: 13–15 years
Senior Division: 16–18 years
You can take part in multiple seasons of the competition until you turn 18
You may work with the same team members and mentors year after year
While teams may explore the same community problem each year, the project/app must be different or substantially improved each season.
How Much Does Participating in the Technovation Challenge Cost?
Participating in the Technovation Challenge does not cost anything. The program, including access to the curriculum, registration, and submitting your project to the global competition, is completely free. There is no fee to participate, and there is no cost to use the official learning resources or submit to the competition.
Is the Technovation Challenge prestigious?
Yes, the Technovation Challenge is widely regarded as a prestigious global program due to its scale, reach, and long-term impact. Since its founding, Technovation has engaged 400,000+ participants, including students, mentors, volunteers, and educators, across 160+ countries, highlighting its strong international presence and recognition.
The outcomes further underline its prestige. 87% of Technovation alumni pursue or plan to pursue STEM degrees, and 97% report improved skills such as coding, leadership, and problem-solving. Beyond the competition, alumni have gone on to start companies and present their work at global forums and internationally recognized events, demonstrating real-world impact.
Technovation’s credibility is strengthened by its partnerships with respected global organizations, including recognition through UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy, and by the involvement of tens of thousands of mentors, judges, and ambassadors worldwide.
Who is the Technovation Challenge Right For?
The Technovation Challenge (Technovation Girls) is right for young people who are girls, nonbinary, gender-fluid, or transgender participants ages 8-18 who want to learn and apply technology and entrepreneurship skills to solve real-world problems by building an app or AI solution with a team.
What Skills Does the Technovation Challenge Test?
Participating in the Technovation Challenge helps you develop and test a broad set of practical and future-ready skills rooted in the program’s curriculum and project-based learning model. You will also gain experience with entrepreneurial thinking, including understanding user research, business models, and pitching ideas, which enhances strategic and business literacy. Throughout the process, you will practice leadership, project management, creativity, and public speaking as you design solutions, develop apps, and present your work to judges, reflecting a wide range of analytical, teamwork, and technical skills emphasized by the challenge’s official learning paths.
7 Tips to Win the Technovation Challenge
But what are the hacks to winning the Technocation Challenge? Let us tell you that there are no shortcuts, and we can only guide you. The rest depends on your research skills, knowledge, and analytical and critical thinking skills!
1. Plan your project timeline carefully
Break your work into smaller tasks, spread them across your 12+ weeks, and use the competition milestones to stay on track so you don’t leave work until the last minute.
2. Identify a strong community problem to solve
Start by observing your community, brainstorm many ideas, and choose a real-world problem that matters to you. The problem you pick with shape the rest of your project.
3. Conduct thorough research and market analysis
Gather information about your problem, analyze other solutions, and understand your users’ needs; this depth of research strengthens your solution and business plan. Prioritize and develop the core features (minimum viable product) that solve your problem really well before adding extras.
4. Create clear and engaging videos
For both pitch and technical videos, make sure your content is understandable, shows your app in action, and includes how you tested it with users. Keep in mind that if you use another language, you’ll have to add English subtitles.
5. Prepare and rehearse your pitch presentation
Draft your slides, include visuals like charts or images, explain the problem and how your solution works, and practice with your team so you’re confident in front of judges.
6. Run your presentation by a teacher or mentor
Share your slides and video drafts with a teacher or mentor so they can help you improve clarity, storytelling, and technical explanations before submission.
7. Gain entrepreneurial experience via a startup incubator
While the Technovation Challenge teaches fundamentals of building tech solutions and business plans, participating in a startup incubator like Young Founders Lab (YFL) can deepen your real-world entrepreneurial skills. By providing mentorship and the experience of building a startup from scratch, YFL can help you tackle entrepreneurial problems, refine your ideas based on feedback, and improve the way you pitch. All of these skills are essential when participating in the Technovation Challenge.
YFL is an online incubator for ambitious high school students where you learn to build an actual revenue-generating business or non-profit, create an MVP, and develop a pitch deck. At the end, you will present at a demo day under mentorship from experienced founders, giving you hands-on entrepreneurial experience that complements Technovation’s curriculum and strengthens your business thinking.
Image Source - YFL logo