This January, the Global Youth Advancement Network (GYAN) celebrated National Mentoring Month, a U.S. based, annual observance which amplifies the transformational power of mentorship and celebrates mentors, mentees, and their interconnected growth.

In honor of such an important observance, GYAN invited the judges, winners, and organizers/mentors involved in the last two editions of the Global Alliance for Rapid Diagnostics (GARD) Forum Innovation Challenge to share their stories of youth mentorship.

GARD is a multidisciplinary peer-to-peer network of equals committed to improving health worldwide founded in 2016 by MSU Prof. Evangelyn Alocilja,with  more than 100 members across all six continents. Held annually, the free, virtual GARD Forum allows experts, academics, and participants to discuss the use of innovative technologies to sustain all aspects of health.

Each year, GYAN supports the GARD Forum by helping to host the GARD Innovation Challenge, a competition open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals worldwide.

Participants must provide a clear and comprehensible description of their innovative solution to a global challenge in the form of a three-minute elevator pitch, including benefits for their main target audience and other market-related aspects. After deliberation by the judging panel, three winners are selected and awarded cash prizes. The goal of the Innovation Challenge is to foster skills such as ingenuity, leadership, and collaboration.

Jon Debling, Ph.D. (Technology Manager, Michigan State University, Innovation Center), reflected upon his experience as a judge of the Innovation Challenge in 2024:

“I was honored to participate as a judge in the 2024 GARD Innovation Challenge. It was exciting to listen to so many excellent pitches from young entrepreneurs. The key to a successful pitch is really understanding the un-met need you are proposing a solution to. Who has the problem, who will pay to make it go away?

There is an excitement all innovators get that I call the “Innovator Thrill”. It happens when you stop following what others tell you what to do and you take charge, follow your dreams and work on your ideas. GARD is an important platform for new innovators to realize there are people listening to them that share their vision and want to help make it happen.”

Anthony James DM. Franco (Graduate Student, PhD in Biosystems Engineering), organizer of the Innovation Challenge in 2023 and 2024, shared his experience as a previous contestant of the competition, his tips for future participants, and his insights on how the GARD Innovation Challenge can serve as a way for youth to feel empowered, have their innovative voices and ideas heard, and seek out networking and mentoring opportunities:

“My experience with the GARD Innovation Challenge started in 2022 as a participant. During that time, I was still in my home country, the Philippines, with my teammates. The idea that we pitched for the competition was a rapid bacterial contamination test kit for disaster response. The Philippines experiences strong typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic activity, destroying properties and natural landscapes. The destruction disrupts basic services like access to potable water. The disruption is prolonged, especially in far-flung and hard-to-access areas. Because of this, we thought that a rapid bacterial contamination test kit was essential for disaster response. 

I was given the opportunity to join the organizing team of the Innovation Challenge in 2023 and 2024, together with Luna and Leticia of GYAN. From being a participant to an organizer, the transition made me appreciate the cause of the event even more. One of the core philosophies of the Innovation Challenge is allowing people to identify problems that are close to home (problems that they or their fellow experience) and think of solutions that are innovative and culturally acceptable at the same time. The same way my team thought of a solution to a problem that we experienced ourselves.  

The challenge can be intimidating at first glance. However, with the resources and support the organizers provide, participants can navigate the challenge with ease and confidence. The participants should take advantage of the available resources and talk to other participants through the online forum specifically set up for Innovation Challenge participants. They should also attend the mentoring activities provided by the experienced team of GYAN to help them improve their elevator pitches.

With the global threat of climate change, the world needs more empowered youth to tackle real-world problems. The GARD Innovation Challenge provides a platform for the youth to showcase their ingenuity and creativity in solving real-world problems while learning about the approaches being considered by other people to solve them.”

The 2025 GARD Forum and Innovation Challenge will take place on March 20-22, 2025 virtually through Zoom. Register to participate in worldwide technical sessions, short courses, networking, and to attend the Innovation Challenge as a general audience member. To register, please visit https://www.gardforum.com.

If you would like to compete in the Innovation Challenge, the deadline for submissions is March 10, 2025 at 11:59 pm EST. For more information, visit the Innovation Challenge website.