In a world where decision-making is often left to seasoned professionals, the Paris Collaborative (Paris Colab) flips the script, inviting school students to take a seat at the table. Rooted in the belief that young minds offer fresh, unfiltered perspectives on global challenges, Paris Colab creates a space where students don’t just participate in discussions—they help shape the solutions.
Born from the momentum of the Paris Climate Agreement and crystallised through an extraordinary experience at COP16 in Colombia, this initiative fosters a global dialogue between youth and experts. Through its Idea Labs, expert panels, and Annual Summit, Paris Colab ensures that young change makers—from diverse backgrounds and underserved regions—can contribute meaningfully to conversations that impact their future.
With a network of global mentors, from former heads of state to leading sustainability researchers, Paris Colab provides more than just a platform; it offers mentorship, exposure, and the validation young innovators often struggle to find. The initiative is proving that when youth and experience come together, the possibilities are boundless.
In this conversation, the visionaries behind Paris Colab spoke to The Indians Un about its origins, impact, and the road ahead—one where generations unite to co-create a better world.
Paris Collaborative (Paris Colab) aims to bridge the generational gap by involving school children in decision-making processes. Can you share the inspiration behind this initiative and how it all began?
Drawing inspiration from the remarkable global achievements of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, we have been considering the development of a platform where young minds can also help change the world. Later, a transformative experience during the COP16 Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia in 2024, reinforced this vision.
As part of the Cali Conference, a series of online panel discussions brought together leading
global experts alongside school students from diverse corners of the world. These sessions
addressed the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
What unfolded was extraordinary. The students presented their ideas, perspectives, and
solutions—driven by the urgency of inheriting the world being shaped today. Experts, in turn, shared their knowledge, validated these young voices, and engaged in meaningful dialogue.The outcome was profound. For the students, their voices were not only heard but deeply valued. They gained confidence, clarity, and the rare opportunity to be taken seriously on a global stage. For the experts, the students’ fresh perspectives and unorthodox approaches offered new ways to view entrenched challenges, inspiring hope and sparking innovative ideas.
These events illustrated the immense potential of cross-generational, cross-cultural dialogue. The Paris Collaborative is envisioned to ensure that such interactions are no longer confined to sporadic events but are instead institutionalised through a dedicated, structured, yet informal platform—a space where youth voices can be heard, validated, and empowered to co-create solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, alongside experts, on a regular basis.
Your ‘Idea Labs’ provides a platform for students to present solutions to global challenges. Could you elaborate on how these labs function?
Paris Collaborative builds on the spirit of that moment in Cali. It seeks to institutionalize the
incredible synergy that was witnessed, ensuring that young minds, particularly school students, are not just participants but co-creators in shaping global solutions. It connects old world expertise with the aspirations of youth from underserved regions, fostering a global ecosystem of collaboration and innovation.
Through a structured, yet informal and fully online format, Paris Collaborative aims to provide school students aged 10–18 years, especially in developing regions, a platform to share their ideas with world-renowned experts, validate and refine youth-driven solutions to global challenges.
We empower young changemakers, to elevate themselves and their ideas through what we
refer to as the ‘offer roll-out’. Curators can extend offers such as Social Media Spotlight- Posting about the participant’s idea on their professional networks (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn), Internship Opportunities- Connecting students with industry experience, Mentorship- Offering guidance and coaching, Recommendation Letters- Providing credibility and validation for future opportunities, Access to Resources- Providing tools, funding, or connections to further their idea
In your panels and fireside chats, experts and children collaborate as equals. How do you ensure that young participants feel empowered and that their contributions are valued in these discussions?
Too often, young people with ground-breaking ideas are left out of important global
conversations. The Paris Collaborative gives young changemakers, especially the school
students, thee opportunity to present their real-world projects on a global stage, engage with experts, and gain the support they need to scale their impact.
We adopt a format designed to empower and inspire youth through collaborative dialogue and tangible outcomes. By linking global experts with underserved demographics and regions, Paris Collaborative fosters collaboration that benefits both sides. Selected students present their innovative solutions to global challenges, typically based on a monthly theme. Global experts mentor and collaborate with students, offering insights, actionable advice and resources, and suggesting networks and collaborations.
The Annual Summit celebrates innovation by showcasing impactful ideas. Can you highlight some success stories where student ideas have led to tangible outcomes?
Our call for applications has received an overwhelming response from all parts of the world, and the numbers coming in are incredible. For example, for 9 positions, we have received almost 1000 applications. From over 70 countries. And we realise this might makes our acceptance rate much smaller even compared to the Ivy league universities, or even some of the greatest incubation projects. We receive such brilliant ideas, and to remind you, these are school students—whom the world often ignores because they have little or no experience.
A transformative proposal from the United States is helping bridge the opportunity gap for
marginalised students by offering free career mentorship and speaker events, giving them
valuable exposure to industry professionals. A ground-breaking proposal from Kazakhstan
empowers individuals with severe disabilities by developing technology that allows them to
independently control digital devices and move freely, promoting greater accessibility and
inclusion. A forward-thinking proposal from India introduces an AI-driven platform that eases teachers’ administrative burdens and enhances personalised learning, addressing student disengagement and inefficiencies in education. A creative proposal from Peru transforms underutilised spaces in low-income schools into vibrant learning hubs, fostering a culture of reading and interactive education. Meanwhile, an innovative proposal from Thailand tackles the lack of funding for sustainable finance and ESG projects, offering creative financial solutions to accelerate progress toward global sustainability goals.
Addressing complex issues like climate change and poverty requires diverse capabilities and mentoring support. How does Paris Colab this?
Our experts, curators and mentors have been extremely benevolent in devoting their time and resources. As our students, our experts also come from across the globe. And from across domains. For example, our Chief Mentor is Annastacia Palaszczuk, the 39th premier of Queensland. Mehmet Ogutcu, chairs Global Resources Partnership, sits on the boards of Genel Energy plc, Sisecam Group and Saudi Crown Holding, serves as Special Envoy of the Energy Charter for MENA region, and as Executive Chair of the Bosphorus Energy Club.
Michael Mehling is the Deputy Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tomoko Imai, is the director of education at the Jiyugaoka Gakuen High School, Joanna Kay is the General Manager for Zero Carbon Hydrogen Australia, Tatiana Mitrova is a Professor and Research Director at the Energy Centre, Maria Candida is an advisor to the President of Brazil, or Masato Seko is the Senior Director at the Nippon Foundation or Sahar Albazar is a member of Parliament and previous minister from Egypt. And these are just a few of our curators and mentors. The list of people who have offered us to the school children their time and resources, is indeed incredible. Together we are building an beautiful world. And together we are co-creating this.
Collaboration between different generations can present unique challenges. How does Paris Colab ensure that all the stakeholders are benefitting?
Paris Collaborative is based on a simple insight that for any idea to have impact and to scale, all the stakeholders should have a benefit associated, and an incentive to give their best. Hence, we have deliberately conceived it as an informal, not-for-profit, online initiative, entirely free of financial commitments. From the experts, we only ask for their time—90 minutes once every three months—to join our expert panels and mentor young minds.
Students gain validation and mentorship from world-class experts, accessing insights and
guidance to refine their ideas. This support empowers them to create tangible solutions that drive real-world impact in their communities and beyond. Experts gain fresh perspectives from innovative youth ideas, while contributing to a sustainable future by mentoring the next generation. While for our world, the students and experts co-create scalable solutions to global challenges, bridging the demographic and experiential divide between generations.
Sustainability is a recurring theme in your initiatives. How does Paris Colab
incorporate sustainable practices within its own operations and events?
Sustainability is at the heart of Paris Collaborative. When we invite applications from the school students, we insist that they should be working on a project that addresses one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, rather than remaining at the idea stage, which can prove to be unfruitful at times, we insist that they have a pilot, proof of concept, or an already implemented project.
Looking ahead, what are the future goals for Paris Colab? Are there plans to expand your initiatives globally or introduce new programs to further your mission?
The energy and potential of the school students is like water captured in a dam. From the outside, it looks it is calm and quiet out there, but in reality it is bustling. And if uncontrolled, it would burst open. So, it is important us to channelise this energy towards the right direction. In fact, we ourselves are surprised by the number of entries that we receive every time we open applications.
At the same time, we have also realised that in the current format, we are not able to do justice to every good idea that we receive. Hence, we are also currently looking at newer scalable formats complementing our Idea Labs, for example, a town hall structure, where a larger cohort of students can interact with experts, or a speed dating type of format, where students can quickly present their ideas in a minute before the experts, before they move on. Though they could not be presented at the Idea Labs, we will also be showcasing some of the interesting ideas in our website, that they get the visibility and appreciation that they deserve.
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