Two new competitions aim to galvanise young people and businesses from across West Yorkshire to develop cutting-edge solutions to local problems.
The West Yorkshire Mayor’s Big Ideas Challenge offers local businesses the chance to receive grants of between £20,000 and £100,000, to develop their ideas into tangible innovations that can positively impact local communities.
The Challenge will also see young entrepreneurs compete for awards of up to £600, to develop their innovative ideas in a way that could benefit other young people in the region.
The two competitions together make up the £1.5 million Challenge, which aims to stimulate entrepreneurship among young people in the region, while supporting businesses to develop lifechanging solutions to local health inequalities.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “West Yorkshire is a region of grafters and innovators, where the answers to global problems have been found in local solutions.
“With this million-pound challenge, we’re galvanising and empowering our young people and businesses to convert their bright ideas into happier and healthier communities.
“By nurturing the passion of our young people and the entrepreneurship of our businesses, we’ll put more money in people’s pockets, create well-paid jobs and build a stronger, brighter region.”
The £1 million business competition is open to small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in the region that have the power to drive improvements to health and wellbeing. Three winning firms will be supported with £100,000 each, to help bring their innovative solutions to market.
They will be chosen from a group of 20 finalists, each of which will receive £20,000 alongside wrap-around support to develop their solutions, including networking opportunities and free membership of Nexus, the research and development hub based at the University of Leeds.
Successful businesses could include a food company reducing distances to fresh ingredients; a community centre providing physical or mental health services; a transport company creating accessible journeys for elderly passengers; or a socially-conscious housing developer creating green and walkable spaces.
Firms will be assessed on the strength of their ideas, with scores for impact, inclusion and innovation, by independent judges selected by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the UK’s challenge prize expert, Challenge Works.
A part of Nesta, Challenge Works is a leader in the design and delivery of high-impact challenge prizes that incentivise cutting-edge innovation for social good. Over the past ten years, it has designed and delivered more than 100 prizes.
Entries to the business competition close 7 May 2025, with finalists announced in the Summer, and winners announced March 2026.
Kathy Nothstine, Director of Cities and Societies, Challenge Works, said: “With large parts of Leeds and Bradford among the most deprived in Britain, there is an urgent need to accelerate innovation around health inequality in West Yorkshire.
“Enabling place-based innovation is essential to shaping the future and driving change. The Mayor’s big ideas challenge will do just this – providing enormous opportunity for those organisations closest to the issue to make a difference in the community.
“We hope to see a range of businesses across different sectors mobilise their networks and talent in order to accelerate innovative solutions that have tangible impact.”
Mandy Ridyard, Business Advisor to the Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “Our diverse businesses form the bedrock of our £66 billion West Yorkshire economy, and their growth is essential to the success of our region, and the success of the UK’s growth mission.
“Ensuring that our small and medium-sized firms have access to the finance they need to innovate is an essential part of our Local Growth Plan.
“This challenge is a call to all of the innovative organisations in our region, which are essential to an inclusive, growing economy. We cannot wait to see the brightest ideas from our dynamic West Yorkshire businesses!”
The competition for young people, delivered in partnership with design specialists TPXimpact, will see 16-26 year olds develop their ideas and passion projects into solutions that could benefit other young people in the region.
With prizes of up to £600 per individual or team, the young entrepreneurs will be taken on a learning journey, receiving research, design and problem-solving skills, and meeting other likeminded young people who want to effect positive social change.
They will then have the opportunity to pitch their ideas, imagining them as real-world solutions for other young people in the region to benefit from.
The Mayor is encouraging people aged 16-26 in the region to apply, either individually or as part of a two- or three-person team, online. The programme is free, with applications closing on 10 April 2025.
Lizzie Insall, Senior Partner at TPXimpact, said: “We are constantly motivated and inspired by the potential of young people. With the right support, we know that young people can unlock ideas and solutions to some of the greatest challenges we face.
“So we are thrilled to be working alongside the Combined Authority team to deliver this innovative programme that will enable our region’s young people to develop research, design and problem solving skills and apply them to a local issue they feel so passionately about.”
