The 2023 Innovators Under 35 competition is now open for nominations

But there’s a lot more to it than that. By writing stories about these innovative and ambitious young people, we hope to offer you a sense of the amazing possibilities of technology. At the same time, we want to help you understand the threats that exist in our world—whether they’re related to your health, online security, climate change, or something else—and what these up-and-coming innovators are doing about these problems.

More than that, we hope that with the list, we can give you a sense of the future direction of technology so you’re well-informed about and prepared for the coming changes. To see what we mean, take a look at our 2022 winners.

You’ve probably heard of many of the people we’ve selected over the years—Andrew Ng, Helen Greiner, Feng Zhang, Tracy Chou, Ian Goodfellow, Rediet Abebe, Julie Shah, Joy Buolamwini, and Natalya Bailey, to name a few.

We look for people doing interesting work in all areas of technology—biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, computing, energy, electronics, software, nanomaterials, and the internet. Some of our winners have invented a particular technology, while others are entrepreneurs employing technology in a new or interesting way. Others are working to use technology to right a social injustice or make life easier for people in difficult circumstances.

We like to be able to answer questions like: What’s the innovation here? What did this person achieve that hasn’t been done before in quite this way? How is this person working toward solving a major technology problem that could make a huge difference in people’s lives?

Many of our candidates come from research universities or corporations, but we also love to feature inventors, startup founders, and social activists using technology in creative ways to make a difference in their communities.

If this description makes you think of someone, then don’t wait: nominate them now.

And if you’d like to know more about the overall process, please visit our page of frequently asked questions.