Nonprofit looks to harness the ingenuity of young people

On Sept 25, 2015, the 193 countries of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 development agenda featuring 17 sustainable development goals.

The following year, a group of students and entrepreneurs in Norway decided to go a step further - they founded a nonprofit organization named Young Sustainable Impact, a platform that brings together smart young minds to develop innovative ideas. YSI helps them turn those ideas into viable startups aimed at solving sustainability problems. This year, the Norwegian-initiated movement has reached out to China for the first time, as the 2018 Young Sustainable Impact China Summit was held in Shanghai earlier this month.

Generally, YSI screens all the program applicants by assessing their educational background, previous accomplishments and passion for sustainability via online interviews, then selects a group who will go on to create several business prototypes supported by YSI's mentorship and advisory board, which consists of experts and entrepreneurs. A fully-fledged startup is usually incubated within a short period of time on the YSI platform.