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Beginner Awards: Social impact
Life Compass
Solution details
We propose a digital platform that helps young people build self-awareness and confidence through interactive activities and AI-based guidance. By connecting strengths, interests, and future paths, it turns orientation into an engaging, personalized journey.
Tweet / Slogan
A digital platform that turns career orientation into an inspiring journey: through AI, self-awareness tools, and interactive activities, students discover their strengths, explore oppor tunities, and become active creators of their own future.
Resources
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Context
According to the Italian Ministry of Youth Policies’ NEET Plan, there are more than 3 million NEETs in Italy in the 15–34 age range. Also, according to INAPP, 57% of young people don’t know what they want to do in the future. These numbers reflect that many high school students lack clarity about their interests and career options, often feeling disoriented.
At the European level, more than 15% of young people are early school leavers (Eurostat2024), and the European Commission highlights that choosing an educational and professional pathway is becoming increasingly complex (EC2023). Research also shows that these choices are closely linked to individual well-being and long-term life satisfaction during adolescence (EC2022). Early guidance is therefore crucial to help students explore their skills and make informed choices, highlighting the urgent need for better orientation programs. This aligns perfectly with the hackathon’s focus on building skills for the future, because it equips young people with the mindset they need to navigate an evolving world of work and learning.
Who Benefits?
This solution is particularly relevant to youngsters in high school (14-19 years old), who are at a crucial stage in shaping their identity, values, and future goals. At this age, students start making important decisions, such as choosing a study path or thinking about possible careers, often without a clear understanding of their strengths or interests. Our platform helps them develop self-awareness, confidence, and decision-making skills before these choices become too overwhelming. By introducing reflection and guidance early, we can prevent disengagement, reduce anxiety about the future, and empower them to take an active role in their personal growth and orientation journey. We will engage high-school students through short, interactive activities that help them reflect on their strengths, interests, and thinking style in a way that feels natural and relatable. This approach ensures that their specific needs (clarity, confidence, and support in choosing their future path) are fully addressed.
Impact
Our solution empowers students to take an active role in shaping their future by helping them understand their interests, strengths, and potential career paths. Through personalized profiles, students receive inspiration and guidance on possible opportunities, along with access to information and resources that provide reassurance and clarity.
The platform we propose can also break down barriers, bridging languages and cultures to foster integration. Research shows that disadvantaged students face significantly higher risks of underachievement and early school leaving [EC 2023; Eurostat 2024]. By providing tailored guidance and support, our platform can empower students to discover their potential, make informed choices, stay engaged in education and training. The project’s goal is to create equal orientation possibilities for all students. Families, especially those unfamiliar with the educational system, struggle to support their children’s choices. This applies to migrant families and Italian families who may not know how emerging careers work.
Team work
Our team combines complementary expertise: two members with a background in psychology, one in design, one in sociology, and one in communication. This multidisciplinary mix allows us to understand both the emotional and cognitive needs of students (psychology, sociology) and to design an engaging, user-centered digital experience (design, communication).We’re also driven by personal experience: when we had to choose our own paths, we didn’t have effective tools. We want to give today’s students the support we never had. The team will be expanded by including a computer science student with expertise in educational technologies to support the development of the platform.
Innovativeness
The originality of the project comes from the fact that it stems from a real problem we have observed. Adolescents are indeed confused and suffering from anxiety related to their future.Our solution is different from others because it helps students take an active role in discovering their strengths and interests. We consider the student in our project as the main character, not a simple spectator. Therefore, this solution focuses on building self-awareness, reflection, and motivation through interactive activities and feedback. Instead of simply giving information, it teaches students how to make thoughtful, confident choices about their future. It is also made in an interactive and engaging way that could fit the youth culture. Finally, our continuous orientation solution supports our long-term vision for empowering students.
Transferability
Our project could not only be used by highschoolers, but also by adults returning to education or training. They could use the platform to identify gaps in skills, explore relevant courses, or plan upskilling pathways. Moreover, organizations could use the platform to map employees’ skills and interests to tailored training programs. Lastly, this solution could help students understand biases, explore careers without stereotypes, and make informed choices. By helping students reflect on their preferences, strengths, and learning strategies, the platform promotes metacognition, which is essential in any learning context, from project-based learning to interdisciplinary studies.
Sustainability
Once the prototype is ready, we will test it to gather feedback and improve content and usability before scaling to more schools and age groups. In the medium term, it can support teachers and counselors in guiding students as their interests evolve. Looking ahead, we aim to expand to middle schools, involve parents in the process, address gender diversity, and help families, including immigrants, understand the education and career system. In the long term, the platform could become a flexible tool for career guidance, personal development, and lifelong learning, empowering students to make informed choices throughout life. As a next step, we will also define a clear sustainability model, evaluating whether the service will be financed by schools, families, youth services or counsellors, or through institutional partnerships.