Guide
Young innovators: kids and teens who built something amazing
You don't need to be grown up to change things. These children and teenagers, from Malawi to Ireland and Kenya to Canada, spotted a problem and built something to fix it, often with little more than scrap parts, library books and determination. Every story is from a reliable source, with links to learn more. Filter by type to explore.
- Uses AI
- The project uses artificial intelligence.
Solved a problem
August 2024
Heman Bekele (USA, born in Ethiopia): a low-cost soap to help treat skin cancer, at 14
What they did: He designed a soap that would deliver a cancer-fighting drug to the skin, aiming for a cost of under $10 a bar. He used computer models to test how it would work.
The problem it tackles: Skin cancer treatment can be very expensive, putting it out of reach for many people.
What happened next: He was named America's Top Young Scientist in 2023 and TIME's Kid of the Year in 2024.
Keep in mind: The soap has only been tested in computer models and the lab so far; it is not available to patients and would need years of trials.
Learn more:Wikipedia
June 2020
Stephen Wamukota (Kenya): a hands-free handwashing machine, at 9
What they did: During the COVID-19 pandemic he built a wooden handwashing machine worked by foot pedals, so people never touch a tap or soap bottle.
The problem it tackles: Touching shared taps can spread germs, especially during a pandemic.
What happened next: He received a presidential award from Kenya's president, the youngest of 68 people honoured.
2018
Macinley Butson (Australia): copper armour to protect patients during cancer treatment
What they did: She designed "Smart Armour", a shield made of small copper scales that covers the healthy breast while the other is treated with radiation.
The problem it tackles: During breast cancer radiotherapy, the healthy breast also receives some radiation, which can cause harm.
What happened next: In tests on a model of the human body it cut radiation to the healthy breast by up to 75%. She was named 2018 NSW Young Australian of the Year at 17.
Keep in mind: The 75% figure comes from tests on a model, not on patients.
Learn more:Wikipedia
2012
Kelvin Doe (Sierra Leone): homemade batteries and a community radio station
What they did: Teaching himself from scrap he found, he built batteries from acid, soda and metal, a generator and a radio transmitter, and ran a local radio station as "DJ Focus".
The problem it tackles: His neighbourhood had unreliable electricity and few ways to share local news and music.
What happened next: In 2012, at about 15, he was invited to MIT in the US as the youngest-ever visiting practitioner in its development programme.
Learn more:Wikipedia
2002
William Kamkwamba (Malawi): a windmill from scrap that brought power home, at 14
What they did: Forced to leave school when famine hit his family, he taught himself from library books and built a windmill from scrap parts and an old bicycle to make electricity.
The problem it tackles: His village had almost no electricity, which limited light, study and farming.
What happened next: His story became the book and film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and his Moving Windmills project supports education in Malawi.
Keep in mind: Sources differ on whether he built it in 2001 or 2002.
Source: archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu
Learn more:Moving WindmillsWikipedia
Started a company or movement
2018
Tilak Mehta (India): a same-day parcel service using Mumbai's lunchbox carriers, at 13
What they did: When he couldn't get books delivered across Mumbai on the same day, he started Papers N Parcels, which uses the city's famous dabbawalas (lunchbox carriers) and a phone app to deliver parcels.
The problem it tackles: Same-day courier delivery within a big city was slow or expensive.
What happened next: The business grew to work with hundreds of dabbawalas across Mumbai.
Keep in mind: Revenue figures reported for the company come from promotional coverage and have not been independently checked.
Uses AIMarch 2013
Nick D'Aloisio (UK): a news app that summarised stories with AI, sold to Yahoo at 17
What they did: At 15 he built an app in his bedroom in London that used AI to shrink long news articles into short summaries. It became Summly.
The problem it tackles: Reading the news on a phone screen takes time; short, automatic summaries make it quicker.
What happened next: Yahoo bought Summly in 2013 when he was 17, reportedly for about $30 million, and he joined Yahoo's London office.
Keep in mind: The price was never officially disclosed; $30 million is the widely reported figure.
Learn more:Wikipedia
2013
Boyan Slat (Netherlands): a plan to clean plastic from the oceans, started at 18
What they did: After diving in Greece at 16 and seeing more plastic than fish, he designed a system to collect ocean plastic. A TEDx talk about it went viral, and in 2013 he left university to found The Ocean Cleanup.
The problem it tackles: Millions of tonnes of plastic end up in rivers and oceans, harming sea life.
What happened next: He still leads The Ocean Cleanup, which now removes plastic both from the ocean and from rivers before it reaches the sea.
Learn more:The Ocean CleanupWikipedia
2007
Felix Finkbeiner (Germany): a children's tree-planting movement, started at 9
What they did: After a school presentation on climate change, he planted a tree at his school and started Plant-for-the-Planet, asking children everywhere to plant trees.
The problem it tackles: Trees absorb carbon dioxide, one of the main causes of climate change.
What happened next: Plant-for-the-Planet grew into a worldwide organisation run with children and young people.
Source: plant-for-the-planet.org
Learn more:Plant-for-the-PlanetWikipedia
Won a science prize
Uses AIMay 2026
Evan Budz (Canada): a robot sea turtle that uses AI to find microplastics
What they did: He built an underwater robot shaped like a sea turtle that swims on its own and uses a special camera and AI to spot microplastics in the water.
The problem it tackles: Measuring microplastics and ocean health usually means collecting samples and testing them in a lab.
What happened next: He won a first prize at the 2025 European Union Contest for Young Scientists, and in 2026 the Gordon E. Moore Award at the world's largest high-school science fair (ISEF).
Learn more:EU contest result
Uses AIMarch 2025
Matteo Paz (USA): an AI that found 1.5 million hidden objects in space, at 18
What they did: He built an AI model that searched almost 200 billion measurements from a retired NASA space telescope and flagged about 1.5 million objects, such as variable stars, that scientists had never catalogued.
The problem it tackles: The telescope had collected far more data than astronomers could ever check by hand.
What happened next: He published the work in The Astronomical Journal on his own and won first place, $250,000, at the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search in the US.
Uses AI2025
Team Appsolute (Nigeria): two 10-year-old girls build an app that keeps drivers awake
What they did: Their app, StayWoke, uses the phone's camera to recognise when a driver looks tired or distracted and gives spoken alerts.
The problem it tackles: Drowsy driving causes many road accidents.
What happened next: They won the Beginner Division grand prize at the 2025 Technovation Girls global competition, ahead of teams from around the world.
Uses AISeptember 2024
Ángela Olazarán Laureano (Mexico): an AI medical assistant, at 17
What they did: She developed a virtual medical assistant powered by AI, and campaigns to encourage girls into science and technology careers.
The problem it tackles: Many people have limited access to basic medical advice.
What happened next: She won the 2024 Global Student Prize, chosen from over 11,000 nominations in 176 countries, with a prize of $100,000.
Uses AIDecember 2020
Gitanjali Rao (USA): a lead detector for drinking water, and TIME's first Kid of the Year
What they did: Inspired by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, she invented Tethys, a small device that detects lead in drinking water and sends results to a phone. She also built Kindly, an app that uses AI to spot early signs of cyberbullying.
The problem it tackles: Lead in drinking water harms health, and testing it has usually been slow and expensive.
What happened next: She won a national young scientist award in 2017 and was named TIME's first Kid of the Year in 2020, at 15.
Learn more:Wikipedia
July 2019
Fionn Ferreira (Ireland): pulling microplastics out of water with magnets, at 18
What they did: Inspired by an oil-coated rock on a beach near his home, he used a magnetic liquid (ferrofluid) to attract tiny plastic particles in water, then removed both with a magnet.
The problem it tackles: Microplastics are too small to filter out easily and now turn up in water, food and our bodies.
What happened next: He won the $50,000 grand prize at the 2019 Google Science Fair. His method removed about 87% of microplastics in his tests.
Keep in mind: The results come from his own laboratory experiments, not large-scale use.
September 2013
Ann Makosinski (Canada): a flashlight powered by the heat of your hand, at 15
What they did: She built a flashlight with no batteries that runs on the difference in temperature between your palm and the air, using special tiles that turn heat into electricity. Her prototype cost about $26.
The problem it tackles: Many people around the world have no reliable electricity or money for batteries.
What happened next: She won her age group at the 2013 Google Science Fair and a $25,000 scholarship, and has kept inventing.
How we chose these stories
We picked young people from around the world whose achievements were reported by reliable news outlets or official award bodies, which each card links to. Ages are when they did the work; most are adults now. We share only public facts about what they made, and we don’t show photos of children. Where results are early or figures unverified, the card says so. For tools to get started, see the best AI tools for students. Know a young innovator we should add? Tell us.