[By Juli Shively, Co-Founder of GIFT – Date: October 28, 2023] The 24-hour, online, multi-country Global Innovation Field Trip (GIFT) is celebrating the achievements of young innovators and program leaders from around the world. They are invited to share their innovation stories with our global audience. This can be an intimidating and risky endeavor until they take that first step forward. Any apprehensions they may have vanish as the program hosts warmly welcome them. They realize that they are not only representing themselves but also their school, club, community, and country. What they have innovated matters less than the fact that they have innovated, and GIFT provides the platform to showcase this achievement.

The GIFT experience extends beyond the classroom, transforming students into global experts in their innovations. They are both mentored and mentoring, and a global learning experience unfolds. These young individuals persist with courage, believing that they can and will make a difference, as they share their stories. As a colleague often reminds me, in ten years, these students may not remember us or GIFT, but they will remember the empowerment they felt when they shared their innovation stories with the world.

At GIFT, we practice what we preach by taking risks, persevering through challenges, and continuously evolving the program to meet the needs of young innovators and program leaders. The recent event was no exception. For the first time in our history, we invited our partner organization, InventFuture.Global, to host the final judging session of their Global Innovation Challenge live at the October 2023 GIFT. Students from 21 countries participated with 30 projects (involving 42 young innovators) selected to advance to the final round. Six one-hour judging sessions were held during the 24-hour event. The participating countries in 2023 included Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Egypt, Guyana, India, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, The Gambia, Thailand, and the United States.

Ten international judges, three hosts, and three moderators presided over the sessions. People from around the world watched as these finalists shared their innovations and answered crucial questions posed by the judges. It was truly an inspirational event.

IMPACT AWARD:

– Automatic Irrigation System by Momodou S loum (The Gambia)

– CarePear by Ririi Aoyama (China)

– CocoPure Water Filter by Rhea Doshi (USA)

– HarvestHub by Binamra Lamsal and Hritik Yadav (Nepal)

– Ready Fi Di Road by Julian Mohabir and Landon Mohabir (Guyana)

– The PAU by Aditi Bhattamishra (USA)

PROCESS AWARD:

– Aquality by Saranya Anantapantula (USA)

– Comfort Calm Care Mat by Fjola Donofrio (USA)

– Corneal Applanation Scleral Buckling Model by Sonia Patel (USA)

– Ludo-Foodo Game by V. Thirja and V. Divya (India)

– Need A Hand? by Steven Kerr and Joseph Bowen Rebbechi (USA)

– Safe Ride by Amina Lesbekova, Murat Almas, and Kobylandy Urastayev (Kazakhstan)

– The Car Seat Coat by Mary Plantholt (USA)

COMMUNICATION AWARD:

– Pitching Pro by Michela Messina (USA)

– ReshapED by Sofia Méndez Roca Fuentes and Rumaisa Kamran Qasim (Bolivia & Pakistan)

– Task Buddee: Your Friend! by Sydney Grace Rui En Low (Singapore)

– The Dye-Less by Louise Athasia C. Tomas, Seth Marvin M. Salud, and Samantha Bloomê R. Cruzada (The Philippines)

– The Projector Microscope by Mandaliya Shivam Shetal and Kapadia Sujan Firoz (India)

– Tiny in size – Giant in use by Mariem Mohamed El-Kady (Egypt)

JUDGE’S OVERALL FAVORITE:

– Aquality by Saranya Anantapantula (USA)

– Billboard Self-ignition Alarm Device by Chen Guanyu and Du Jingyuan (China)

– CarePear by Ririi Aoyama (China)

– CocoPure Water Filter by Rhea Doshi (USA)

– Corneal Applanation Scleral Buckling Model by Sonia Patel (USA)

– Electronic Crossroad Fence by Wang Yueteng and Chen Ruize (China)

– HarvestHub by Binamra Lamsal and Hritik Yadav (Nepal)

– Need A Hand? by Steven Kerr and Joseph Bowen Rebbechi (USA)

– Ready Fi Di Road by Julian Mohabir and Landon Mohabir (Guyana)

– ReshapED by Sofia Méndez Roca Fuentes and Rumaisa Kamran Qasim (Bolivia & Pakistan)

– SafeRide by Amina Lesbekova, Murat Almas, and Kobylandy Urastayev (Kazakhstan)

– The PAU by Aditi Bhattamishra (USA)

Various other awards were presented to these and other finalists, thanks to the collaboration and support of many. We wish to express our gratitude to IFIA-ABIPIR, IFIA President Alireza Rastegar, and his team members, Marcelo Vivacqua and Anand Kannan, who consistently provided support and shared the Global Innovation Field Trip with individuals across 70 countries. Your extensive support has been instrumental in attracting young innovators, program leaders, and other supporters to this essential student program.

Global Innovation Field Trip:
– 15 Events
– 1,697 Presenters
– 70 Countries
If you are interested in collaborating with GIFT, please contact us at globalinnovationfieldtrip@gmail.com
Website: www.GlobalInnovationFieldTrip.org

The Global Innovation Field Trip™, announces the development of the first-ever National Innovation Field Trips, nation-level celebrations of youth innovation.

Launched in early 2020, when the pandemic was starting to cancel innovation celebrations in the United States and around the world, the Global Innovation Field Trip, known as GIFT, was just ramping up. As the first, 24-hour online, multi-country collaboration, celebrating and showcasing young innovators and programs that educate, inspire, and sponsor youth innovation, GIFT quickly evolved from a one-time U.S. based program to a quarterly, multi-country beacon of world-learning. Promising to fill you with inspiration, hope and reassurance that our future is in good hands, these K-12 innovators share their short stories of innovation with the world.

Fast forward 3 years and GIFT has accomplished 13 field trips celebrating more than 1450 presenters from 61 countries. With an all-volunteer event staff of 30 or more co-hosts from 14-16 countries, GIFT has proven itself a highly successful global collaboration.

The good news is that people across the world are seeing how the GIFT experience has changed students’ lives and futures and they want to be involved.
The not so good news is that the program has proven so impactful and has become so popular that the quarterly events fill quickly, and in some cases, presentations need to be deferred to the next quarterly event. This concerns us greatly because we strive to keep this platform accessible to all.
The great news and in keeping with our mission, we are ready to take the next step in celebrating students around the world, creating greater opportunity, by inviting like-minded organizations to be a part of this proven model through the National Innovation Field Trips (NIFTs).
NIFTs are feeder programs to the Global Innovation Field Trip (GIFT). Born out of the high demand from around the world for entry/participation into the quarterly GIFTs, the NIFT programs establishes country-level or region-level programs that focus on youth innovation presentations mostly from a specific region, country, or a specific customer network. NIFTs can also maintain an international flair with co-hosts and select guests participating from outside of the NIFT country.
The goal of a NIFT, just like the global program, is to provide an online, multi-country collaboration, celebrating young innovators and those who educate, inspire and sponsor innovation, most often in their home country, in surrounding territories, and sometimes outside of their country within their organization’s footprint.
Just as with the GIFT program, the NIFT raises the students, schools, educators, and program leader’s profiles with parents, administrators, higher education, and government agencies. They are no longer just presenting to their school, community, or local government; they now experience national and potentially global-level attention if advanced to the GIFT.

Imagine a world where your students take the lead in innovating solutions, where collaboration raises the level of their work from good to exceptional, and, where students are celebrated, not for their scores alone, but for their societal impact. The National Innovation Field Trips (NIFTs) are experiential world-learning at its very best, offering reimagined methods of showcasing and recognizing student innovators, and educational programs which support and inspire innovation. The format is intentionally inclusive to allow students of all ages, economic statuses, and from any nationality to participate, and to encourage students to explore commonalities, interests, and collaboration with their contemporaries from around their nation and around the world. Designed based off the proven model of the Global Innovation Field Trip, NIFTs allow Innovation World to scale the platform and expand the celebration across all nations, becoming invaluable as a leading tool to reinvigorate the mission of parents, educators, and program leaders around the world to prioritize youth innovation in all fields and career paths.

Educators have the unique opportunity to expand their student’s intercultural communications, develop community and collaboration among students, and enable their students to express their ideas, actions, and accomplishments in their own voice, on a national stage, and through GIFT’s global stage. NIFTs take students beyond the classroom to encourage and inspire cross-border collaboration, and the possibility of world learning through the GIFT. Both NIFTs and GIFT are opportunities for innovative schools to showcase their use of experiential learning and global competencies, and to become role models for other institutions.
The National Innovation Field Trip (NIFT), run by NIFT Partners is the gateway for students to gain recognition throughout their country as well as special access to GIFT. NIFT Partners will be a part of the largest effort to connect and celebrate your country’s student innovators. Join us to learn how NIFT and GIFT can bring your program to the 21st century on a national and world stage.
Far-sighted companies, looking for ways to support their country’s educational systems to develop the innovation mindset and be publicly aligned with this important goal, can gain this recognition by helping to support student innovators at a national level NIFT.