The countdown is on! The Big Ideas Competition 2026 National Final is nearly here. Soon we’ll gather to celebrate the incredible achievements of the young people who have dedicated the last 10 months to developing their Big Ideas.
Read on for everything you need to know: who the finalists are and the Big Ideas they’re championing, who will be judging this year’s competition, and what you can look forward to throughout the day.
The prestigious event starts with our student teams meeting us at Westminster Hall first thing in the morning and going on tours of the House of Commons. We then move across to the Attlee Suite in Portcullis House for the invitation-only event, with student teams and teachers, our judges, guests from our business partners and other VIPs enjoying a vegetarian buffet lunch followed by the presentations from the National Finalist teams. The day culminates with our award ceremony at the end of the day.
Our 2026 National Finalists
Kelp Our Oceans
Bell Baxter High School
Growing large healthy kelp forests to improve carbon capture and develop rewilding.
Electroben
Outwood Academy Shafton
An automatic plug socket/adapter with a companion app that lets users schedule timers to control when their electronic appliances turn on and off – particularly aimed at the elderly.
4CL
Oxclose Community Academy
A combined product, service, and campaign built around the Coral Un‑Bleacher robot, which cools reef water, restores coral, supports reef monitoring, and promotes community action to protect reefs.
Mindsets Alike
Kingsbury School
Mindsets Alike is a support‑focused charity offering safe spaces and group sessions in schools to help children and teens facing mental health challenges such as bullying, family difficulties, and distressing thoughts.
Flowtz
Hadley Learning Community
A set of modern, discreet flotation devices.
Sentials Cooking
Warblington School
A renewable‑powered cuboid disaster‑relief appliance that provides essentials like cooking, refrigeration, freezing, and clean water to help people live comfortably after natural disasters.
Little Things
Moorside High School
An app to reduce provide you with where to buy food with the east food miles and also the most healthy – benefiting both shoppers and farmers.
Atmos Shield
John Port Spencer Academy
A machine to clean the air in the UK’s most heavily-polluted areas.
BioPaint
Arden Academy
A paint mixed with microalgae to paint concrete buildings and increase oxygen and green spaces in cities.
Monthly Matters
Wetherby High School
A service and campaign that raises awareness about periods and pushes for better school support, including improved bathrooms and dedicated staff for menstrual-related issues.
Eco B.O.M.B.
Sponne School
Eco B.O.M.B. is a product‑and‑campaign that uses pressurised air to scatter biodegradable seeds across deforested areas, funded through merchandise and awareness efforts to help replant regions like the Amazon.
Kindroots
Starbank School
A grassroots community initiative that provides food to those who need it with a community cafe/foodbank as well as hands‑on learning, shared resources, and community veg patches.
Our Judging Panel
Noorafsha Manga
Noorafsha is an engineer and currently works as an Apprenticeship Delivery Manager at London South Bank University where she helps people kick-start their careers in STEM. She is representing Solutions for the Planet as she is also a Non-Executive Director on our Board.
Sean Greenwood
Sean is a Deputy Chair of the Pipeline Industries Guild (The Big Ideas Programme’s National Partner). He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineering and has 28 years experience within the water industry, currently working as Technical Director for Stantec.
Eliška Gooch
Eliška is our Young Person Judge and is currently studying for a Masters of Research in Environmental Science at the University of Nottingham. She is also the Youth Sustainability Champion for the Department of Education, helping to shape the Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy for education.
Laura Watford
Laura is the Co-Founder of STEMunity, an organisation which assists a network of STEM educators, academics and industries to work collaboratively to enhance STEM education and employability. She is also a Teaching Fellow at the University of Portsmouth specialising in STEAM education.
Saeed Atcha
Saeed is the Founder of Youth Leads UK and a committed community leader who has dedicated over a decade to championing youth empowerment and social mobility. He was also the youngest recipient of an MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List.
MPs
We are incredibly grateful to Saqib Bhatti, MP for Meriden and Solihull East, who is officially hosting our Big Ideas Competition National Final at the Houses of Parliament this year. Thanks also to Afzal Khan (MP for Manchester Rusholme), Sarah Bool (MP for South Northamptonshire) and Graham Morris (MP for Easington) for co‑sponsoring. Our thanks also go to Rachel Taylor, MP for North Warwickshire, whose office kindly organised the tours for us.
Giving students the opportunity not only to visit Westminster and tour the House of Commons, but also to present in such an important venue, is something we value deeply. We simply couldn’t make this happen without the support of the schools’ local MPs.
By hosting the event in a parliamentary building, we are also fortunate to welcome a number of other MPs (to be confirmed) who attend to support their local teams and celebrate the young people representing their constituencies.