Young Minds, Big Ideas

Innopreneurs Team
May 6
8 min read

Updated: Aug 12

Young Minds, Big Ideas

Innopreneurs Junior at the Vikasit Bharat Startup Conclave

When school students stop being only learners and begin seeing themselves as problem-solvers, innovators and entrepreneurs, the future starts looking very different.

What happens when we stop asking children only, “What do you want to become when you grow up?” and start asking, “What problem would you like to solve?”

At the Viksit Bharat Startup Conclave 2026 in Nagpur, a remarkable group of young innovators offered an inspiring answer. They arrived from different cities and age groups with ideas spanning artificial intelligence, sanitation, safety, elder care, food, education and vision. What united them was more powerful than any single technology: they had noticed problems around them and decided to do something about them.

They were the finalists of Innopreneurs Junior, the innovation and entrepreneurship platform initiated by Lemon Ideas. For a few memorable hours, the distance between “school student” and “startup founder” seemed remarkably small.

The Conclave was brought to life through the collaborative efforts of Lemon Ideas, the Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VED Council), and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU). By bringing together entrepreneurial expertise, regional development leadership and academic strength, the partners created a powerful meeting ground for startups, investors, mentors and young innovators. Their collaboration reflected an important principle behind Viksit Bharat: meaningful innovation flourishes when industry, institutions and the wider ecosystem work together.

Young innovators take centre stage at the Innopreneurs Junior Finale during the Viksit Bharat Startup Conclave 2026 in Nagpur.

A Startup Conclave Where Young Innovators Belonged

The Viksit Bharat Startup Conclave brought founders, investors, mentors, industry leaders, policymakers and ecosystem enablers onto one platform. Nearly 50 startups—including ventures presented by school students—formed part of the wider showcase.

That detail matters. The young innovators were not tucked away in a separate school exhibition. They were surrounded by entrepreneurship in action: founders discussing businesses, startups demonstrating products, mentors asking difficult questions and innovators talking about building and scaling ventures.

For a child interested in innovation, that exposure can be transformative. Entrepreneurship is no longer an abstract chapter in a textbook. A founder is someone you can meet. A startup is something you can see. An investor is someone who can test your assumptions. An idea is something that might become real.

Innopreneurs Junior: Where Entrepreneurship Begins With Curiosity

At its heart, Innopreneurs Junior is built on a simple belief: children do not need to wait until adulthood to begin thinking like innovators.

They can observe problems today. They can ask questions today. They can build prototypes today. They can explore technology responsibly today. And they can learn how ideas become solutions today.

The objective is not to turn every child into a startup founder. It is bigger: to cultivate an innovation and entrepreneurial mindset—a way of thinking that teaches a young person to observe, question, imagine, experiment, build, communicate and improve.

Instead of beginning with an answer, students begin with a problem. Instead of being evaluated only on what they remember, they are challenged to explain what they have imagined.

Innovation begins with curiosity. Innopreneurs Junior encourages students to move from identifying a problem to testing a possible solution.

From Different Corners of India Came Very Different Ideas

The finalist cohort showed just how widely young imagination can range.

From Pune, Grade 9 student Avyaay Rathi presented AI Conditioner, addressing a challenge that barely existed a few years ago: helping students use generative AI responsibly, without excessive dependence or compromises in academic integrity and self-discipline.

Tushar Suryavanshi, a Grade 12 student from Shirpur, Dhule, presented Atal Swachham, a modular sanitation solution shaped through conversations with municipal workers. His idea reminds us that innovation does not always begin with sophisticated technology. Sometimes it begins by listening carefully to someone who experiences a problem every day.

From Greater Noida, Grade 11 student Aryak Sahai brought DIGIRAKSHAK. Grade 8 student Avanish Bavaskar from Amravati presented a Fuel Tank Safety Device.

Fourteen-year-old Guransh Singh from Amritsar presented Golden Years, a concept combining hospitality infrastructure with assisted living, healthcare support, wellness, companionship and digital connectivity for families. The idea asks an entrepreneurial question with growing social relevance: can existing hotel infrastructure be reimagined to offer senior citizens safer, more dignified and engaging living experiences?

From Pune, Grade 12 student Lakshya Tiwari presented Ingredients AI, which helps users turn available ingredients into recipe suggestions tailored to dietary preferences, time and cuisine choices, while supporting nutritional awareness.

One of the youngest participants brought one of the most ambitious concepts. At 11 years old, Grade 6 student Rakshit Khanna from Vadodara presented Orbit, centred on a passive vision-support idea combining optics, materials and wearable technology.

Nagpur was represented by Grade 12 student Mohammad Saiful Haque with NOTES GPT and Grade 8 student Ansh Mulmule with SMART SIGHT.

Artificial intelligence. Sanitation. Safety. Elder care. Food and nutrition. Vision. Education. Technology.

These were not children completing a predefined project. They were young people being encouraged to look at society, find a problem worth solving and develop their own response.

When a Child Says, “I Think I Can Solve This”

Innovation does not necessarily begin with an invention. It begins with an observation: a sanitation worker struggling with equipment; a grandparent experiencing loneliness; a student becoming overly dependent on AI; food sitting unused in a refrigerator; or a safety risk everyone else has learned to live with.

The entrepreneur sees the same world everyone else sees, but responds differently. Where others see inconvenience, the innovator asks, “Why does it have to remain this way?”

That is the mindset Innopreneurs Junior seeks to cultivate early—not merely the ability to build something, but the confidence to believe that something can be changed.

From an idea in the mind to a pitch before entrepreneurs and experts, the Finale challenged young innovators to explain not only what they had created, but why it mattered.

The Pitch: Where an Idea Meets Reality

Having an idea is exciting. Explaining it to people who will question it is very different.

At the Finale, the young innovators had to present their solutions before experienced professionals. Who has this problem? How big is it? Why would someone use the solution? Is the technology feasible? How will it be built? Who will pay for it? What alternatives already exist?

These are questions adult founders face every day—and extraordinarily powerful questions for a teenager, or an eleven-year-old, to encounter.

The moment someone questions an idea, its creator has two choices: defend the assumption or improve it. That is where entrepreneurial learning begins. Every jury question sharpens thinking. Every piece of feedback challenges an assumption. Every pitch strengthens communication. Every difficult moment on stage builds resilience.

The greatest outcome of Innopreneurs Junior cannot therefore be measured only by who lifts a trophy. The process itself is part of the prize.

More Than a Competition

Competitions often create a simple narrative: participants enter, finalists are selected, someone wins and the event ends. Innovation does not work that way. An idea evolves. A prototype fails. A customer disagrees. Technology changes. A mentor suggests a different direction. A founder tries again.

That is why the larger opportunity lies in building an ecosystem around young innovators—not merely conducting an annual contest. Mentoring, startup exposure, business thinking, peer learning, access to founders, opportunities to experiment, permission to fail safely and continued support beyond the competition all matter.

This transformation—from contest to ecosystem—is what makes platforms such as Innopreneurs Junior increasingly relevant.

Feedback is where ideas begin to mature. Interaction with mentors and experts gives young innovators something invaluable: perspective from the real world.

From Classroom to Startup Ecosystem

Context influences ambition. When children participate only in school competitions, they naturally see their work as a school project. Put the same child among entrepreneurs, founders, investors and startup showcases, and the frame changes.

The question is no longer, “Will my teacher like this project?” It becomes, “Could somebody actually use this?”

That shift is profound. The project becomes a product. The assignment becomes an opportunity. The student becomes a problem-solver. An idea that might otherwise end with a certificate can begin a much longer journey.

A Journey That Has Been Growing for Years

The journey did not begin in 2026. In 2022, the Times of India described Innopreneurs Junior as a “Shark Tank-styled contest” for school students, with young people from multiple cities presenting ideas in safety, sustainability, digital platforms and logistics.

Earlier initiatives such as the Toddler to Teen Festival also exposed children to robotics, science, innovation, entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Across the years, the format has evolved, but the belief has remained consistent: give children the opportunity to create, not merely consume.

Why Young Innovators Matter to Viksit Bharat

India’s aspiration of Viksit Bharat 2047 is often discussed through economic growth, infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, entrepreneurship and global competitiveness. All of those matter. But behind every transformation are people capable of imagining something that does not yet exist.

If India wants more innovators in 2047, it cannot begin nurturing them in 2047. It has to begin now—in schools, homes and communities.

We need young people who do not merely ask, “Which career should I choose?” but also, “Which problem should I solve?” We need students who see artificial intelligence not only as something that gives answers, but as something they can use responsibly to create solutions. We need children who understand entrepreneurship not merely as starting a business, but as creating value by solving problems.

We need young Indians who can collaborate, communicate, experiment, handle failure, learn from feedback and stand before a room full of adults to say, “I have an idea.”

Different cities. Different ages. Different ideas. One shared belief: young people can participate in building the India of tomorrow.

The Trophy Is a Moment. The Mindset Can Last a Lifetime.

Every competition eventually reaches the moment everyone awaits. Names are announced. Awards are presented. Photographs are taken. There is applause, and there are winners.

But perhaps the success of Innopreneurs Junior should be measured differently.

Did a child become more confident? Did someone learn to accept criticism? Did a student discover that an idea could become a venture? Did a team go home determined to improve its prototype? Did a young person begin seeing problems differently?

If even some of those answers are yes, something more enduring than a trophy has been created: a mindset.

The Stage Ends. The Journey Shouldn’t.

The real test of an innovation ecosystem begins after the event lights are switched off. Promising young innovators need continued mentoring, experimentation, networks and opportunities to develop their ideas.

Some ideas may disappear. Some may change direction completely. Some may become projects. A few may eventually become startups. And perhaps, years from now, one of these participants will stand on another stage—not as a school student presenting an idea, but as a founder building an organisation that affects thousands or millions of lives.

Somewhere among today’s school projects may be tomorrow’s startup. Somewhere among today’s nervous first pitches may be tomorrow’s confident founder. And somewhere among the children willing to ask “Why not?” may be the innovators who help build the India of 2047.

Young Innopreneurs. A Viksit Bharat in the Making.

The most inspiring image from the Finale may not ultimately be the trophy. It is the sight of a school student standing on a startup stage, presenting an idea to adults and saying, in effect:

“I see a problem. I think I can solve it.”

That mindset is bigger than any competition. It is curiosity becoming innovation, innovation becoming enterprise, and young Indians becoming creators rather than merely consumers of the future.

Their ideas may still be young. Their ambition certainly isn’t.