Australia’s brightest social entrepreneurs selected for 2026 Young Social Pioneers program

Young Social Pioneers is Australia’s only fully-subsidised, intensive development program that works with young change-makers, aged between 18 and 29 years. The four-month program allows young people to showcase their ideas, foster entrepreneurship and risk-taking, and develop their social innovation projects under expert mentors. At the end of the program, participants will pitch their ideas to peers and partners for the opportunity to secure a slice of $100,000 in seed funding to develop their project.

The participants for this year’s program were selected from more than 800 entries in FYA’s Innovation Nation: 1000 Ideas for a Better Australia campaign, a national conversation about innovation and entrepreneurship that ran from January to March this year.

FYA CEO Jan Owen AM said that she is looking forward to seeing the ideas of this year’s Young Social Pioneers come to life.

‘Through our Young Social Pioneers program we are investing in young people to develop the skills and innovative thinking needed to create a world they want to live in, to ensure they are equipped to drive our economy forward and build the jobs and opportunities of the future’, she said.

Click here to find out more about the 2026 Young Social Pioneers and their creative ideas for a better Australia.