After Yale and Harvard, international futurist offers training to Hungarian students

The Solutions for Tomorrow challenge is based on Samsung’s international Solve for Tomorrow program, which has now reached more than 2.8 million students in 68 countries. Since 2021, the Hungarian challenge has given hundreds of young people the opportunity to develop their ideas with professional support in an inspiring community and experience how all this can benefit society. Moreover, ideas can really make a difference! The winners can even compete on an international level, with a Hungarian team also participating in this year’s pan-European final, who were able to present their project to an international jury.

In this season, participants will be inspired by new thematic directions, but at the same time, they can develop any solution proposal that can truly improve everyday life and the lives of their local community. “This year’s featured topics reflect the direction of the international program, and are also areas that we know are important to young people. For them, healthy, sporty lifestyles and sustainable thinking are really not just buzzwords, but an important part of their everyday lives,” said Gerda Witsch, Marketing Manager at Samsung Hungary and one of the competition’s jury members. “Young people’s ideas are often much more forward-thinking than we think. Our important goal is to help them unleash this creativity and show how technology can be the starting point for positive social change.” Applicants to the challenge can bring ideas on the theme of The Future of Health, from conscious use of gadgets to healthier sleep and nutrition to protecting mental health. Among the Sustainable Solutions, students can work on recycling, reducing pollution, and green projects. Change through the Power of Sport is the theme where teams – even young people working together in sports clubs – use their solutions to achieve social change by using the positive effects of an active lifestyle and team sports.

The goal of the competition is not only to come up with a creative idea, but also to understand how a feasible project is built – from planning, communication and presentation to implementation. This is exactly what makes Solutions for Tomorrow special. It offers participants – both students and their teachers – professional support and mentorship that can help them work together and solve creative problems, and beyond the competition, in further education and later in their work.

The teams that make it to the TOP 50 can learn at an in-person event and on an online platform developed by the Hungarian startup Blue Colibri, where they will learn step by step about the design thinking approach and its tools. During the process, students not only develop future-shaping ideas, but also simultaneously develop their communication and collaboration skills, learn about the conscious use of AI, and gain insight into the exciting field of futures research. The top eight teams will participate in personal workshops, training, and mentoring, where they will receive professional support for the final.

“Today’s students face complex challenges in the 21st century, and that is why it is important that they practice critical thinking, creative problem-solving and collaboration at a young age,” said Dorottya Borsos, head of the Edisonplatform and EdisonKids program, regarding the challenge. “The Solutions for Tomorrow idea competition prepares them for exactly this: they consciously think through what bothers them in their environment and experience that their ideas and opinions matter. During the program, they acquire super-competences that are crucial not only for learning but also for community building, social responsibility and the future labor market.

In each season, Solutions for Tomorrow also pays special attention to the teachers who help the teams, as they are the ones who inspire young people every day. Teachers can participate in mentoring and media awareness training, which help them to more effectively support the development of their students, motivate them know them and feel at home on the online platforms that determine young people’s everyday communication. The program is therefore not only a competition, but also a community creative workshop where students and teachers develop together.