VentureJam is a pioneering talent development programme, designed and delivered by Glasgow City of Science and Innovation and Young Scot. It is also the official youth strand of VentureFest, Scotland’s year-long festival of discovery and innovation.

VentureJam involves teams of 14-20-year-olds from all over Scotland. Together, they use the Young Scot Co-design methodology within a high-energy hackathon weekend and co-create new and innovative ideas to tackle a major environmental challenge in Scotland.

The young people work in teams and use their diverse skillsets (from STEAM - science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics), critical thinking and teamwork skills. During the process, innovative ideas emerge and develop to a stage where they can be taken forward as viable options for products, services, marketing or organisational innovations that support behaviour change for lasting impact.

In 2019, VentureJam participants got the unique opportunity to pitch their ideas to public and private sector innovation stakeholders at the CAN DO Innovation Summit at Glasgow Science Centre. This is one of VentureFest Scotland’s headline events. It encourages businesses to embrace the right cultures and technologies to come up with new creative solutions that will impact on people, prosperity and the planet.

The challenge theme for 2019, food waste, linked directly to Scotland’s food waste reduction target, the first of its kind in Europe, and the ‘Food Waste Reduction Action Plan’.

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