Angle Weekly: From Classroom to Boardrooms: How Teenagers Are Guiding the Future of Innovation

-          What 30,000 teenagers taught me about purpose, priorities, and the future of meaningful technology

INTRODUCTON

Over the past few years, I’ve visited more than 300 educational institutions and engaged with over 30,000 teenagers on the topic of the new economy.

In these sessions, I designed interactive games of various kinds to spark creative thinking around how technology can drive innovation in everyday life.

Due to time limitations, we usually began by asking the youths to vote their preference on a domain within the smart city that they believe can improve most the City’s liveability and convenience. 

Once the group settled on a focus area, each student wrote down a specific idea – something they believed could thrive with the help of technology and innovation – on a small piece of paper.

Then came the fun part. Ideas were read aloud – not by the original writers, but by random group mates who had not idea whose idea they were holding.

And interestingly, many youngsters were far more excited to read someone else’s idea than to share their own.

Finally, each student will mark a tick or a cross on the back of each paper to show their support (or disagreement) for the technology innovation idea.

Across hundreds of sessions, two themes consistently rose to the top:

·       Transportation

·       Medical and health care

Not only are these globally important sectors, they’re also part of teenagers everyday lived experience.

While some adults may dismiss the next generation as glued to screens and disconnected from real-world challenges, my experience reveals the opposite.

Teenagers are deeply aware of the inefficiencies and friction points in the systems they interact with every day.  Their focus isn’t abstract – it’s personal and practical.

These are the environments they live in, and their ideas reflect both a desire to innovate what’s important and a belief that technology has a role to play in that aspect. They’re not just passive users of tech – they are eager to shape it.

For today’s innovation leaders, tuning in to these voices is a nice gesture, and a STRATEGY FOR STAYING RELEVANT.

FROM CLASSROOM TO BOARDROOM

-          Young innovation programs are not just for show.  Motivation needs meaning.

After hearing many ideas from young people, I believe that what we, as innovation leaders, can do better to build environments that motivate, empower, and respect the next generation.

That motivation, I’ve found, often come down to three simple things:

·       Competence

·        Relatedness

·       Autonomy

These are concepts well known in organizational theory, but just as relevant in innovation space.

Competence: Everyone Has Something to Add

“Every teenager can come up with good innovation ideas – STEM or not.”

Some of the most creative, practical, and surprising human-centric ideas indeed come from mixed teams of STEM and non-STEM students.

Not every problem needs an engineer. 

Some need a storyteller.

Or a systems thinker.

Or someone who’s really good at noticing what’s not working.

Quick win: let’s start inviting non-STEM students to join school innovation teams.  Their fresh perspectives often bring balance to tech-heavy solutions

When they know their idea belong in the room of innovation, their confidence grows.  That’s what build lasting competency.

Relatedness: Connect Ideas to the Real World

“Teenagers care more about their ideas when they can see where those ideas might lead.”

During school projects, many students feels the value to hear from people who are actually working in innovation – founders, engineers, data specialist, product designers, or startup coaches.

Not to be told what to do.  Just to understand what’s real, what’s possible, and what happens after the school project ends.

Quick win: Bring in innovation leaders for conversations, or keynotes.  Let students ask questions.  Let them hear about failure, pivoting, and unexpected turns.

Real stories from real people create real connections. It’s that sense of relatedness – knowing someone has walked the path, that helps students picture their future with more clarify and confidence.

Autonomy: Give Them the Wheel (or a little)

This is part many programs overlook.  Especially when a student team does well by hitting all the rubrics, wins prizes, and get applause.

We often guide students with framework, rules, themes and rubrics, which are helpful, but too much structure removes the one thing that makes innovation exciting: autonomy.

Teenagers are more motivated when they feel trusted to explore their own thinking. Autonomy is about giving them the space to choose, to shape and the voice to lead.

In practice, this looks like the following:

·       Let students choose which problems they want to solve, not just assign them

·       Give them multiple ways to express their ideas: a prototype, a story, a service model, or a video.

·       Encourage cross-age collaboration, where younger students can propose ideas and older ones can build on them

·       Encourage students to follow through the project deliverables in their own time

When students have autonomy in innovation project development, the sense of ownership youngster feel is what turns good ideas into real and practical pro