photo collage of innovators

Humans and Technology

Help us pick the next great young innovators

Our 2020 contest for the 35 Innovators Under 35 is now open for nominations.

Nov 14, 2019
photo collage of innovators
  • We're looking for young innovators whose innovations will make a positive difference in the world.
  • Many of our formers winners come from prestigious universities and companies, but that's not required.
  • We're also looking for people using technology to make a difference in the developing world.

Our 35 Innovators Under 35 competition for 2020 is now open for nominations. You can nominate great candidates from now until 10 pm EST on February 3.

We first published a young innovators list 20 years ago. Today, many of those we have selected over the years, such as Andrew Ng, Helen Greiner, Feng Zhang, and Julie Shah, are leaders in their fields. And two decades later, many of these distinguished scientists, entrepreneurs, humanitarians, and businesspeople still list the honor of being selected prominently on their bios.

Could you or someone you know be the next young innovator? You can nominate great candidates here.

So who are we looking for? We’re looking for people doing interesting work with software, nanomaterials, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, computing, energy, electronics, and the internet. But most of all, we’re looking for people capable of changing the world for the better.

What we’re most interested in seeing is a specific achievement. We like to be able to answer questions like: What’s the innovation here? What did this person achieve that hasn’t been done before in quite this way? How is this person working toward solving a major technology problem that could make a huge difference in people’s lives?

Some candidates come from the world’s elite research universities or top corporations. But many don’t. We’re also looking for inventors, startup founders, social activists using technology in novel and creative ways to make a difference in their communities.

We have no idea who’ll end up on our 2020 list, because it’s not in our hands. That's up to you.