Many summer programs for high school students teach about business. An innovation challenge works differently. A real organization brings a question it has not solved yet, and students spend the program working on it.
This guide explains what that looks like, with examples from Hudson Lab Ventures programs, and what students take away from the experience.
What is an innovation challenge?
An innovation challenge starts with a real problem from an organization such as a company, a government, or a foundation. Students research the problem, talk to the people affected by it, work in teams to develop ideas, and pitch their recommendations to people who work on that problem.
The goal is not for students to launch their own company. It is to learn the entrepreneurial mindset and process for solving problems that actually exist. Coming up with something new from a blank page is hard for adults, let alone teenagers, so a real question gives students a place to start.
What does it look like in practice?
Here are four challenges from recent Hudson Lab Ventures programs.
Coupang MyShop (Seoul, 2025). Students were asked how to design a MyShop experience that excites young shoppers while creating real value for sellers. They went out into the streets of Seoul to interview Gen Z shoppers about how they discover trends and decide what to buy. They heard more no’s than yes’s, and they still came back with real insights.
Net-zero careers (New York City, 2025). At Columbia University, students took on the question of how to build a strong talent pipeline for heavy industries like cement, steel, and aluminum to drive net-zero innovation. They asked other students what came to mind when they thought of climate careers, and almost no one mentioned those industries.
Etsy (New York City, 2026). Etsy came to Columbia University to present its innovation challenge to the students.
The future of education (Lisbon, 2025). Working with Unicorn Factory Lisboa and sponsored by José de Mello, students took on the challenge of designing the future of education in an AI-powered world, from the classroom itself to how school is structured to learning beyond school walls. OpenAI kicked off the challenge by giving students a set of future-facing questions to anchor their work.
How the work unfolds
The exact schedule varies by program, but the pattern is similar. In the Columbia challenge, for example, students heard from a business school professor, industry representatives, and a startup founder, then spent time identifying and reframing the problem. Every student pitched an idea, the group voted to move several ideas forward, and students chose a focus area such as business strategy, product development, or marketing. Teams then refined their work and presented it to the sponsors and partners.
What students learn
Hudson Lab Ventures builds its programs around six skills: finding problems worth solving, collaborating, developing and testing ideas, thinking creatively, communicating to stakeholders, and taking initiative and ownership. You can read more about them on our Global Entrepreneurship Challenge page.
Students also practice things that are hard to learn in a classroom: talking to strangers, hearing no, and presenting to people who may disagree. Those experiences build confidence.
How is this different from a startup program or an internship?
A startup program asks students to come up with their own business idea. An innovation challenge starts from a problem that someone else already has. Many internships, by comparison, assign tasks within a single team, while a challenge asks students to work on an open question from start to finish. If you are deciding between formats, our guide to innovation vs. startup programs for high school students explains the differences.
Is an innovation challenge right for your teen?
It suits students who are curious about how organizations solve problems and who want to try real work before choosing a path. For more on why that matters as AI changes entry-level work, read our post on how AI is changing entry-level jobs.
Our programs run in New York City, Lisbon, and Seoul. Apply to Hudson Lab Ventures, or explore our programs.
