Here are the winners of Spring 2023

The Spring idea competition for secondary level students, was decided on May 4th, when the victory was taken by muoviTON, the Youth National Defence Union, and Ternary Computers. Almost 3000 votes were cast in total. Voting was possible both in advance and during the live Final broadcast. 

Three winning teams of Spring-ideacompetition

The three winning teams of Spring grabbed a whopping 55% share of the total votes. With their ideas they want to reduce plastic waste, increase the enthusiasm for national defence among young people, and develop more sustainable information technology. The winners of Spring will be rewarded with a unique summer job where they will be able to bring their ideas to life with top experts in various fields. The summer also includes a study trip to Amsterdam and Berlin.

The idea competition, held for the first time this spring, invited secondary level students in teams of 3-5 people to develop ideas that would improve the world. The idea competition received a total of 161 ideas from young people from 68 different locations. From these ideas, a pre-selection jury chose the ten most promising teams for the final. The winners of the entire idea competition were announced during the live Final broadcast on May 4th, which was watched by all secondary level institutions. 

Get to know the winners of Spring

muoviTON  

Every year 350 million tons of plastic end up as waste and plastic production has an extreme impact on global warming. The trio of youngsters behind muoviTON have done ample research on the topic and now they want to solve this problem by bringing Zero Waste sections to grocery stores all over Finland. In Zero Waste sections the customer can take the desired amount of product into their own container. This easy solution can reduce the amount of plastic waste considerably. 

Elena, Inka and Kia
Helsinki – Espoo 

The Youth National Defence Union  

Without security, we cannot face global challenges, and a safe society of the future is based on young people. The Youth National Defence Union wants to increase the enthusiasm and awareness for national defence among young people. This trio of Helsinki based youngsters want to make military service an accelerator for everyone’s life by increasing activities, improving communication, and advocating for the interests of young people in military service.  

Rasmus, Alex, and Matti
Helsinki 

Ternary Computers 

As the global need for data processing is growing sharply, so too does the need for new efficient and energy-saving information processing solutions. This team of five innovative and ambitious youngsters from Otaniemi, the tech-hub of Finland, want to develop ternary computers to match this need. They see ternary computers as the future of greener and more efficient information processing and dream of solving big problems by developing this new technology. 

Rasmus, Kiril, Aleksi, Aarni and Tiitus
Helsinki – Espoo – Kirkkonummi 


The Spring idea competition was founded by experienced professionals from the business world, science, and social decision-making: Matti Alahuhta, Sari Baldauf, Antti Herlin, Martti Hetemäki, Bengt Holmström and Jorma Ollila. The purpose of the idea competition is to strengthen young people’s confidence in the future and their agency. The Children and Youth Foundation is responsible for the implementation of the competition. 

The idea competition became popular and will continue next spring. All secondary level institutions and their students are invited to participate.