CAD $100,000 in Prizes Awarded as Youth Innovation Lights Up the Future
The 2026 Canada Youth Innovation Competition Awards Ceremony Held in Toronto
In golden October, the light of innovation shone over Toronto. On October 4, 2026, the awards ceremony for the 2026 Canada Youth Innovation Competition was held at the Crowne Plaza North York Hotel in Toronto. The event was hosted by the Youth Innovation Awards Foundation, with Scotia Wealth Management as title sponsor and CJT Family Office as co-host. More than 300 people attended, including guests from federal, provincial, and municipal government, education, technology, business, and the community, along with expert judges, student participants, parents, partners, and media representatives. Together, they celebrated the achievements of Canadian youth innovators and a new generation of innovative talent.
Focusing on AI and Future Living: Nearly Six Months Building a Platform for Young Innovators
This year's competition centred on the theme "AI Agent & Future Life Innovation Challenge" and featured four tracks: Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Systems; Biotechnology & Health Innovation; Environmental Sustainability & Clean Energy; and Social Innovation & Technology for Good.
The competition was open to Canadian students in Grades 7 to 12 regardless of academic background, and encouraged projects from the humanities, sciences, and interdisciplinary fields. Over nearly six months of preparation, project pitches, preliminary judging, and final judging, the competition brought together a judging panel of Canadian university professors, industry experts, and innovation and entrepreneurship leaders. Projects were evaluated on innovation, technical application, social value, feasibility, and growth potential, with the aim of ensuring a rigorous, fair process with diverse professional perspectives.
45 Students Share CAD $100,000; VisionIQ Wins the Grand Award
At the ceremony, the expert judging committee officially announced this year's results. A total of 45 students shared CAD $100,000 in prize money across different award levels. Six projects received the Outstanding Award, and the top honour, the Grand Award, went to VisionIQ, as listed below. The ceremony also included presentations of the Excellent Award and the Merit Award.
Total prize money was CAD $100,000: the Grand Award carried CAD $10,000, each Outstanding Award CAD $5,000, and each Excellent Award CAD $2,000.
Grand Award
VisionIQ – A Novel Multi-Model AI Wearable for Visual Impairment
Participant: Surya Narayan Santhakumar
Top honour of the competition
Outstanding Awards
Best Technological Breakthrough
Inflect v2: Ultra-Compact Text-to-Speech
Participant: Owen Song
Best Product
CodeDreams (teaching code through vibedream)
Participants: Ethan Wu, Jonathan Shi
Excellence in Smart Cities
GTFS Neural Network (transit delay prediction)
Participant: Jett Mu
Excellence in Healthcare
Operation Oracle (AI cancer screening platform)
Participant: Anie Udofia
Commercial Potential
LaneLab (AI-powered swim coaching)
Participants: Yichen Liu, Shayan Doroudiani
Social Impact & Sustainability
Before the Sky Turns Orange – The C.L.E.A.R. System: Canadian Lead-Time Early Air Response
Participants: Ryan Zander, Hugo Bui
Jiantian Cui: Technology Itself Is Not the Future; the Future Is Created by Those Who Dare to Question, Imagine, and Act
In his welcome address, Jiantian Cui, Chair of the 2026 Canada Youth Innovation Competition Organizing Committee and Executive Director of the Youth Innovation Awards Foundation, thanked guests from all sectors on behalf of the organizing committee and hosts. He said the significance of the competition lies not only in selecting winners, but in building a platform where young Canadians can share ideas, explore freely, and have their creativity respected. This aligns with the foundation's mission of "advancing education and supporting youth innovation," and the hope is to encourage young people to develop creativity, critical thinking, and leadership, so that they not only adapt to the future but actively create it.
Alex Cui: Embrace the AI Era and Use Innovation to Solve Future Problems
In his remarks, young entrepreneurial leader and GPTZero co-founder Alex Cui encouraged Canadian youth to actively embrace the age of artificial intelligence, keep exploring through technological innovation, and respond to the real problems facing future society with innovative thinking. He noted that AI is profoundly changing how we learn, work, and live. For the younger generation, AI is not just a technology but an important tool for unleashing creativity, solving problems, and creating social value.
Corine Lin: Supporting Young People in Exploring Innovation and Building a Better Future Together
Corine Lin, representing Scotia Wealth Management, warmly congratulated all participants, saying that whether or not they won, every student had completed a remarkable challenge through hard work, creativity, and perseverance.Hui Wang: True Legacy Is Not Only Wealth, but Knowledge, Responsibility, and the Ability to Create the Future
Wang Hui, partner at co-host CJT Family Office, said: "Today we are celebrating not just awards, but the imagination, creativity, and exploratory spirit of young people. AI is changing the world, and the true creators of the future are the young people here today. CJT Family Office has always believed that true legacy is not only wealth, but knowledge, responsibility, and the ability to create the future.”
Guests from Government, Education, Technology, and the Community Bear Witness
The ceremony brought together many guests from government, business, education, and the community. Attendees included Members of Parliament Jean Yip and Vincent Ho; Ontario MPP Logan Kanapathi; Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti; Markham Regional Councillor Alan Ho; and Markham Councillor Amanda Yeung Collucci, among others.
Canada AXCD Youth Innovation Award Foundation Unveiled; Alex Cui Donates CAD $100,000
The ceremony also included the unveiling of a charitable foundation, the Canada AXCD Youth Innovation Award Foundation, along with a donation ceremony. In front of the assembled guests, GPTZero co-founder Alex Cui donated CAD $100,000 to the Canada AXCD Youth Innovation Award Foundation, presenting the donation cheque to the foundation's Finance Director, Jianguo Wei, to support this year’s prize money. Jiantian Cui said the donation will provide tangible and meaningful support to young innovators.
Keynote Speeches and Contestants' Entrance: Turning "Innovation" from a Project into a Growth Experience
During the ceremony, GPTZero co-founder Alex Cui delivered a keynote titled "What is needed to excel in our new future," and Senior Machine Learning Researcher Joyce Yang spoke on "Journey as a computer vision researcher," sharing her research and personal growth in computer vision. From the perspectives of youth potential, AI innovation, and research practice, the two talks offered students forward-looking inspiration.
Professional Judging Ensures Fairness; Tribute to Sponsors, Judges, and Volunteers
During the awards segment, Bridge Song, head of the expert judging committee, described the judging process. The panel consisted of Alex Cui, Bridge Song, Prof. Hugh Liu, Dr. Bin Tang, Frank Ye, Dr. Yuxi Li, Dr. Chunlei He, Loewe Ke, Oliver Xin, and Jason Zhou, covering higher education, research, artificial intelligence, industry, and innovation and entrepreneurship.
Bringing Together Community Strength to Build Canada's Youth Innovation Ecosystem
The ceremony presented the Merit Award, Excellent Award, Outstanding Award, and Grand Award in sequence, and concluded with plaques or certificates of honour for the title sponsor and supporting organizations, the expert judges, and volunteers who made important contributions to the event.
The 2026 Canada Youth Innovation Competition hopes more Canadian youth will stay curious, innovate boldly, and put ideas into practice, seeking answers where technology meets the humanities and creating value where innovation meets responsibility, growing into a future force for innovation that drives social progress and serves the public good.
About the Youth Innovation Awards Foundation
The Youth Innovation Awards Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to public benefit, committed to advancing education and supporting youth innovation. Through awards, scholarships, educational programs, mentorship, and community partnerships, the foundation encourages young people to develop creativity, critical thinking, leadership, and practical problem-solving skills, and recognizes original achievements and positive social impact by youth in science, technology, education, culture, and community service.
Key Organizations
Host: Youth Innovation Awards Foundation
Title Sponsor: Scotia Wealth Management
Co-host: CJT Family Office