With the process of selecting the next WISE Prize for Education winner already underway, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) has emphasised a key challenge for applicants: identifying global solutions that improve learning and life outcomes.
WISE, a global education initiative of Qatar Foundation, is offering $1mn in prize money for the top three winners of WISE Prize for Education, which will be given away at the WISE Summit in 2027.
The finalists of the WISE Prize will be announced towards the end of this year. Each finalist will receive support to design and refine their solution.
WISE Prize for Education is a global award programme that identifies outstanding education innovations and provides funding, mentorship, and development support.
“The WISE Prize for Education 2026-2027 cycle centres on a single, unified challenge. The core challenge is to develop a practical solution that delivers significant and measurable improvements in learning and/or life outcomes.
“The solution should strengthen learners’ ability to gain, retain, and apply essential knowledge and skills, leading to better opportunities for education, work, and wellbeing,” WISE said on its website.
“The solution should represent an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) of an already successful approach, ready to be adapted, tested, or scaled in new contexts and meet the WISE Prize selection criteria,” added the statement.
WISE has specified that applicants should have a demonstrated track record supporting their ability to address the challenge, and it assesses the credibility of the team and organisation behind the solution. It highlights that the solution addresses the education challenge through an evidence-based approach that has not been widely tested or implemented before, focusing on the novelty of the method.
As for its feasibility, WISE has noted that the proposal sets out a credible plan for developing the solution, with clear resource allocation, timelines, and manpower planning over the 12-month MVP development period.
As for scalability and sustainability, WISE suggests that the solution demonstrates realistic potential to expand over time, taking into account both the nature of the innovation and the team’s capacity to enable and sustain that growth. The solution should also have the potential to adapt to different geographic and social contexts beyond its original setting, making it relevant to a diverse global audience.
Each finalist receives funding to develop their solution into a minimum viable product over 12 months, alongside tailored mentorship and coaching with intensive development support to help the solutions grow from MVP to scale. It includes one-to-one coaching, bi-monthly check-ins and in-person workshops to refine solutions and facilitate peer learning with other finalists.
Through its network of local partners, including Education Above All and Qatar Science and Technology, winners may access additional opportunities to scale their solutions globally. This will also lead to connections to WISE’s local innovation partners that can further support the piloting and growth of solutions.
In addition, it provides access to WISE’s 60,000+ global education innovators, leaders, and community, and great visibility at the WISE Summit next year, as the finalists present their solutions to a global audience of leading educators and policymakers.
The application phase for the WISE Prize for Education is closed, and eligibility screening and shortlisting are currently underway. Each cycle, WISE works with an independent jury and expert committee drawn from government, civil society, the private sector, international organisations, and academia. The finalists for the award are expected to be announced towards the end of this year.
