Big ideas, bright futures: Meet the 19 finalists shaping a healthier West Yorkshire

Big ideas, bright futures: Meet the 19 finalists shaping a healthier West Yorkshire

31 July 2025

Our finalist teams for the Mayor’s big ideas challenge have now been selected to further develop their solutions to tackle health inequality in West Yorkshire.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the 19 local businesses chosen to progress to the finalist phase in the Tackling health inequalities: the Mayor’s big ideas challenge – a £1 million initiative designed to overcome some of the toughest health inequalities in West Yorkshire.

This cohort of finalists represent a range of solutions with the potential to tackle health inequality issues in Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield and transform the lives of local people – from an AI wellbeing companion for neurodivergent women, a digital training service for pharmacists, and a language platform to improve children’s communication skills among the 19. 

After a rigorous judging process, each selected finalist will now receive £20,000 in development funding and a tailored package of support to help them further develop, test, and refine their ideas over the next seven months. In March 2026, we’ll see up to three standout solutions be selected as winners and awarded an additional £100,000 each to assist them in scaling up and commercialising their innovations.

We’ve been working in close collaboration with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority from day one to deliver this innovative challenge on behalf of Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire. So, this is such an exciting milestone for us here at Challenge Works and we feel proud to see the finalists embarking on this next phase. 

All 19 finalists came together in Leeds, earlier this month, for our Innovator Academy. This wasn’t just a kick-off event, but was also a moment of connection and shared vision, where the incredible drive of each innovator to make a real difference shone through.

The event was a key opportunity for finalists to build connections and lay the groundwork to accelerate their groundbreaking solutions. This marks the beginning of an exciting journey where each finalist will receive tailored support to help them shape their ideas around real human needs, map out their path to commercialisation, and ultimately create meaningful change in their communities.

We are incredibly excited for how these innovative solutions will evolve over the coming months and look forward to March next year, when up to three of the most impactful innovations will be awarded £100,000 each to take their work even further.

Who are the finalists?

Watch this space for updates as the finalists progress, and stay tuned for the announcement of the winning teams in March 2026.

Learn more about the Challenge