A major new initiative is offering young people and businesses in West Yorkshire the chance to win funding for innovative solutions to local problems.
The West Yorkshire Mayor’s Big Ideas Challenge is now open for applications, with grants ranging from £20,000 to £100,000 available for businesses – and awards of up to £600 for young entrepreneurs.
The initiative, which launched on February 12, aims to stimulate entrepreneurship among young people in the region, while supporting businesses to develop solutions to local health inequalities.
The £1 million business competition is open to small and medium-sized firms that “have the power to drive improvements to health and wellbeing”; three winning firms will each receive £100,000 to help bring their solutions to market.
They will be chosen from a group of 20 finalists, each of which will receive £20,000 alongside development support, including networking opportunities and free membership of Nexus, the research 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 Challenge Works.
Entries to the business competition close on May 7, with finalists to be announced in the summer, and winners announced in March 2026.
The competition for young people, delivered in partnership with design specialists TPXimpact, invites 16 to 26-year-olds to 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 receive research, design, and problem-solving skills, and meet other likeminded young people who want to effect positive social change.
They will then have the chance to pitch their ideas as real-world solutions for other young people in the region.
The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, is encouraging people aged 16 to 26 in the region to find out more information and apply, either individually or as part of a two- or three-person team, online.
The programme is completely free, with applications closing on April 10, 2025.
More information about the business competition is available at https://www.wybusiness-skills.com/MayorsBigIdeasChallengeForSMEs/
More information about the young people’s competition is available at https://www.wybusiness-skills.com/MayorsBigIdeasChallengeForYoungPeople/
