By now, Canada’s pervasive innovation gap is as well known as it is lamented: Despite exceptional resources and capabilities, Canadians too often struggle to convert great ideas into projects and products with material impact.

Experts believe solving a problem of this scale and import must be an all-hands-on-deck imperative. “We have to start thinking about how Canada can back its own ambitions again,” says Teresa Marques, President and CEO of the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF). “We need to set more people up to contribute, to problem-solve, to learn, to create and to participate to their fullest extent possible, with as few barriers as possible. We need to do this because we all have a role to play in shaping the country’s future prosperity.”

That includes a cohort that is frequently overlooked and misunderstood in discussions surrounding economic growth. “Young people are literally wired to be innovators,” says Ilona Dougherty, Co-Creator and Managing Director of the Youth & Innovation Project at the University of Waterloo. The human brain’s neuroplasticity surges between the ages of 15 and 25, she explains, which translates into elevated tendencies to challenge established ways of doing things, to take risks, and to think creatively in these years. “Our ability to be bold problem solvers gets harder as we get older,” she says. 

Relatively few organizations and institutions are built to effectively support, let alone harness, the ideas of innovators born well after the turn of the Millennium. But experts say a country in dire need of different approaches to problem-solving must learn to do just that. With that in mind, we’ve consulted three of Canada’s most promising teenage innovators (all alumni of the RHF’s Ingenious+ program) to better understand what makes their approaches to changemaking so valuable today, and to learn what more established players in the ecosystem can do to accelerate their ideas.

“Nothing truly satisfies me as much as getting my hands into different problems”

Thivya Jeyapalan doesn’t have a lot of patience for the stereotypical stories of entrepreneurial innovation that fill her social media feeds. “You’ll see these highlight reels that make the ideation process seem very sudden, something that happens when geniuses have a huge revelation or wake up with brilliant ideas,” she reflects. “But that has not been my experience.”

She has plenty to back up her sentiment. At 19 years old, the Toronto native has already amassed a remarkable C.V. as a changemaker, having led the student business organization FBL Canada, founded the financial literacy and leadership program CapitalHER, and helped build (alongside Sarvesh Sekar) Candme, a centralized application and evaluation platform for student organizations, fellowships and leadership initiatives. (The latter earned the pair a $40,000 investment in the recent Ingenious+ Spark pitch competition.)

In Jeyapalan’s view, some of the most exciting and meaningful innovations can have a long gestation period: “The issues I’ve care about enough to actually commercialize and make into a full-on businesses have been solutions to little problems that have bothered me for a long period of time,” she says. “I’ve kind of let them sit. The ideas didn’t come all of a sudden.” 

It works because Jeyapalan looks for inspiration everywhere. She might get an idea for a new product in a lecture (she just finished her first year of an Economics degree at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania), or a solution to a thorny technical problem from a tough-love conversation with a mentor, or a marketing insight when sketching out a business plan for one of the new ventures she has percolating. For her, innovation is not a discrete act: It’s an active, continuous process that benefits greatly from patience and cross-pollination. “I love the idea of unconventional pathways to learning,” she reports. “I’ve found the most success in being really scrappy in reaching out to different people and seeking out different ways of doing things.”

How you can help innovators like Jeyapalan: Be willing to hear out what youth bring to the table, even when it is unconventional. “Sometimes, more established businesspeople have very traditional ways of doing things,” she says. “I completely understand where they’re coming from, but I think open-mindedness can get people really far.”

“Just getting out there and experiencing the world around me helps me understand what can be improved”

Some 16-year-olds might find big problems overwhelming. Victoria-based Grade 11 student Liam Pope-Lau finds them energizing. 

When Pope-Lau became aware of the serious risks of hypothermia (after capsizing during a sailing lesson at 11 years old), he began thinking of practical ways to prevent the condition. This led him to develop LifeHeat, a self-heating, self-activated survival pack that can be attached to life jackets or clothing. 

When he discovered the widespread prevalence of microplastics in the natural world (after participating in a beach clean-up), he completed a science fair project based on microplastics testing, began advocating for single-use plastics regulation, then developed OceanLens, an AI-powered app to map microplastics data. 

And when he learned how common loneliness is among seniors, and about the harmful health outcomes that stem from isolation, he started a project that has delivered thousands of homemade valentines to residents of local long-term care homes. “Many people think of innovation as being STEM-based,” Pope-Lau comments. “But innovation is really about looking at how to make things better in all areas: Social, environmental and medical. Really, anything that involves improving our world and bettering humanity.” 

The through-line of Pope-Lau’s disparate projects is his practice of paying attention. When he recognizes something that needs fixing, he starts thinking of tactical solutions that might help tackle the matter, even if he’s not an expert. “I think youth can offer a unique lens on problem-solving,” he says. “Although we don’t have years of experience, we can offer a fresh perspective and ask questions about the assumptions that might be preventing innovation.”

How you can help innovators like Pope-Lau: Take their work seriously, and resource it with financial support and mentorship. “Testing an innovation takes time and money, and being able to try different variations is what leads to the bigger breakthroughs,” Pope-Lau says. “Even small support can be critical at an early stage, where it helps validate and advance an idea.”

“I wanted to change something, and that is what I bring to the table”

Yasmine Ben Arous knows the value of her perspective. The 17-year-old Montreal-based Cégep student has been developing Calmos, a web and mobile app that uses physiological data (such as heart rate and sweat) to proactively predict and monitor symptoms of anxiety, for the past few years. The project involves collaboration with experienced experts in technology, social work and research. “I’ve definitely felt imposter syndrome,” she says. “I often lead meetings where my team is talking about things I don’t understand. But I’ve learned that being vulnerable, authentic and true to myself is very important.” 

That’s because no one knows the problem she’s solving better than her. When Ben Arous was 13, starting high school a year early and dealing with some changes in her life, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. “I realized that the way we treated students with anxiety did not fit the need,” she said. “I felt I had to try to create something to make the situation better.” So, she spent a year learning more about the disorder, investigating possible AI systems that could help solve it and developing a plan. And then she sought out partners to design the app and validate it scientifically. 

Four years in, she considers herself a guardian of Calmos’s mission, to ensure the project stays dialed in to the problem it exists to solve. “I found the areas where I am an expert,” she says. “I’m not a technical expert or a social worker. But I am an expert in the reality of a student who was facing anxiety, and that is valuable.”

How you can help innovators like Ben Arous: Invite them to the table. “I find it funny that organizations will hire experts in youth who are 40, 50 or 60 years old,” she says. “Just come talk to us! The fact that we’re so new to everything, and that we’re so passionate, and excited, and, yes, sometimes innocent, might bring up something of value.”

An investment with multiplying returns

Experts say that engaging with, supporting, and enabling the next generation of Canadian innovators can have multiplier effects on creativity and productivity. “Listening to youth is the right thing to do, but it’s important to note that it is also the smart thing to do,” says the RHF’s Marques. She points to her own organization, which revamped its own Ingenious+ program when youth participants suggested an approach to better engage with their cohort, and saw a 42 per cent increase in applications within a year as a result.

“It’s not about telling or showing young people that there is one pathway or one answer,” Marques adds. “It’s really about how we can get them what they need to do what they want to accomplish, and how we can help to remove any barriers that might be in their way. Because we’re seeing what happens when young people feel seen, and heard, and supported on their own terms.”

This content was paid for and directed by Rideau Hall Foundation and was produced independently of The Logic’s newsroom in consultation with the advertiser. You can read our policies on advertising, sponsorships and partnerships here.