Young Innovators Next Steps Awards recognises trailblazing young entrepreneurs, accelerating their business growth to deliver an even bigger impact
Today, two Young Innovators from Yorkshire and the Humber have been given a further boost to their early-stage businesses by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, through the Young Innovators Next Steps Awards. These entrepreneurs were previous recipients of the Young Innovators Award and have now been awarded a second time, based on their progress and their future growth plans.
Looking for young people with innovative ideas
The announcement comes as Innovate UK calls for aspiring entrepreneurs across Yorkshire and the Humber to come forward and apply to be part of the Young Innovators Award 2022/23 cohort. The programme nurtures the talents of tomorrow to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges. Up to 100 winning young entrepreneurs will be supported for 12 months, with individuals benefiting from a £5,000 grant, one-on-one business support, and an allowance to cover living costs.
Young Innovators Next Steps award winners
With a focus on helping young people really scale up their ground-breaking ideas, the Young Innovators Next Steps Awards will see all 19 winners receive an additional £50,000. From the first prosthetic limb for children which grows as they do, to wallets made of seaweed, and technology to help monitor and protect our bees, the 19 innovators are already making a big impact in their sectors. In just over 12 months, since winning their first Innovate UK award, the pioneers have attracted further investment, secured offices and production facilities, expanded their teams (creating over 50 new jobs), filed patents and landed important deals with the likes of John Lewis, M&S, and Microsoft.
The two winners from Yorkshire and the Humber are:
Casey Woodward (29 years old), from York, has set up AgriSound, which is deploying listening devices across the planet to transform how people monitor insect activity and protect vulnerable and critical pollinators like bees. Since winning his first award, Casey has doubled his turnover, launched a new product, and begun high profile projects with M&S, Innocent Drinks, and Dyson Farming.
Antoinette Adams (27 years old), from Heaton, Bradford, founded JWEL, a jewellery company with a difference. Antoinette’s unique jewellery collections, for example, sees her finding the perfect individual customer with antique and eco-friendly jewellery all gift wrapped with 100% biodegradable packaging. Since winning Innovate UK’s Young Innovator Award, Antoinette has driven her business to now have an average annual turnover of around £80,000.
These Young Innovators Next Step winners’ ideas are improving lives and creating a more sustainable, productive and prosperous future. New advances in technology are also at the heart of many of the innovators’ business – from an AI personal trainer, to an interactive online platform to inspire the digital generation to pick up their knitting needles, and a mobile app designed to help families monitor and improve their wellbeing.
Young Innovators 22/23 Competition
Both winners from Yorkshire and the Humber originally scooped Young Innovator Awards in 2021. The Young Innovators Awards recognise young people, aged 18 to 30, from every region and nation of the UK with great business ideas who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs and future leaders in innovation. Award winners will each receive a £5,000 grant, living allowance, a package of business coaching, and mentoring from a personal Innovation Champion from Innovate UK Edge. Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn more and register their interest in the forthcoming Young Innovators awards, which open on Monday 13 June.
Commenting on his award and project, Casey said, “AgriSound was founded to modernise the practice of monitoring and protection of vulnerable insect species. Since winning the Young Innovators Award, we have launched a new product – Polly – which is a wild pollinator counting device and doubled our turnover. My team and I are thrilled to have won Innovate UK’s Young Innovators Next Steps Award to continue developing our products and expanding our business.”
Commenting on her award and project, Antoinette said, “The Young Innovators Award gave me the confidence and support – financially and through mentorship – to take my business to the next level. I can now buy products and sell them making on average a 35% profit margin whereas most of my sales before were commission pieces. My hope from winning the Young Innovators Next Steps Award is that it will help us to become the one stop shop for eco-friendly jewellery, with strong e-commerce and physical retail brand that is well known.”
The Young Innovator Awards enable entrepreneurship and innovation among more young people to help them bring more diverse ideas and businesses into the economy, champion innovations for the underrepresented, and provide a platform for gamechangers looking to make a societal, economic and environmental impact.
Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at Innovate UK said: “It’s one thing to have a business idea and – as so many aspiring entrepreneurs would attest – quite another to make it a reality. These innovative young people have worked relentlessly to realise their ambitions and we are proud of the role we are able to play in helping them on this journey. Their disruptive ideas stand to make a big impact, but their stories are important in other ways too – if they can inspire other young people to come forward and innovate, we will all benefit”.
Innovate UK’s Chief Executive Officer, Indro Mukerjee, said: “Innovate UK is committed to inspiring and supporting the next generation of innovators. We will work to inspire, involve, and invest in their talent to create a strong future economy and society. Congratulations to the Young Innovators Next Steps award winners and I look forward to seeing their businesses develop even further”.
Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn more about the forthcoming Young Innovators awards, which open for applications on Monday 13 June.