For the Swarovski Foundation, there’s power in youth. That’s why its Creatives for Our Future program focuses on creatives from ages 21 to 30. The program supports those who are working on a project or product that utilizes creativity to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, were created at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. The conference’s goal was to “produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political, and economic challenges facing our world.”
The 17 official goals span many intersecting objectives, including: “No Poverty,” “Quality Education,” “Clean Water and Sanitation,” “Reduced Inequalities,” and “Climate Action.”
The participants’ projects span initiatives across the SDGs and the globe, from upcycling trash into construction blocks in Delhi to using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to ensure water systems in sub-Saharan Africa are functional.
What Is the Swarovski Foundation?
Established in 2013, the Swarovski Foundation’s mission is to “promote sustainable livelihoods through education to reduce inequality by supporting initiatives that focus on Equity, Water, and Creativity, and through two programs: Waterschool and Creatives for Our Future.”
Swarovski Foundation Waterschool and Creatives For Our Future are both focused on empowering young people, with Waterschool focusing specifically on water management and Creatives For Our Future on utilizing creativity to impact any of the SDGs.
Creatives for Our Future
The Creatives for Our Future program pairs the Swarovski Foundation’s emphasis on creativity and innovation with the aspiration to affect the global problems defined by the United Nations.
Jakhya Rahman-Corey, director of the Swarovski Foundation, told Worth, “We felt that young people are questioning the status quo. I think that’s what’s fascinating. Sometimes, when you’re used to a particular way of working, you kind of get stuck in that.”
The program supports the needs of young adults by lowering or eliminating financial barriers to sustainable development practices.
Participant Experiences
The Swarovski Foundation’s emphasis on education extends to the experience of the chosen cohort for Creatives for Our Future. Participants are awarded a €20,000 grant, mentorship, networking opportunities, masterclasses, and a trip to New York City to showcase their projects and connect with other leaders.
According to Rahman-Corey, introducing various forms of education, both formal and informal, was critical when designing the experience of Creatives for Our Future awardees.
She told Worth, “If there’s a fund for young people to access, what does that journey look like? So we’re not just setting them up to fail […] How can we set them up to succeed? What does that look like?”
According to Sejal Budholiya, Creatives for Our Future awardee and Founder of Gaia, a tool to ease menstruation logistics, these educational initiatives were successful.
“The Swarovski Foundation Creatives for Our Future program recognized Gaia’s potential to make a difference and became a critical supporter offering both financial assistance and mentorship, helping bring the idea to life. It gave me the much-needed support and confidence to develop the idea from a sketch to a prototype.”
Past Awardees
The Creatives for Our Future program encompasses a wide definition of “creatives”: those working in disciplines such as art, design, fashion, architecture, videography, photography, and engineering. Past awardees have utilized their disciplines to expand upon the SDGs in several areas.
Noemi Florea, Founder and CEO of LÆRO, focused on tap water scarcity and contamination, which she’d been exposed to while volunteering in low-income neighborhoods in the United States. Inspired, she developed Cycleau, a water treatment system that she told Worth “can be retrofitted under sinks, showers, and laundry units to treat greywater and turn it into drinking water.”
When Florea joined her Creatives for Our Future cohort, Cycleau was a concept. Throughout the course of the year, she built that concept up into a prototype and has since secured pilot contracts with communities in need of the product.
Joshua Ichor, Geologist and Founder and CEO of Geotek Water Solutions Ltd., also emphasized clean water in his project. His personal experiences inspired him: after contracting typhoid fever due to lack of clean water access, Ichor spent over a year in the hospital, impacting his education. The Geotek water monitoring system ensures the functionality of water systems by utilizing the Internet of Things, establishing when water is safe to drink.
Ichor’s grant allowed him to develop and deploy the Geotek water monitoring system into a fully functioning product, delivering clean water to over 10,000 people daily. He’s expanded from Nigeria into Kenya and Uganda, and he plans to continue expanding across sub-Saharan Africa and eventually into Southern Africa.
Gunraagh Singh Talwar, architect and social innovator, also drew inspiration from his life.
Talwar told Worth, “I witnessed firsthand the alarming growth of waste mountains in the city’s margins—silent testimonies to our urban waste crisis. This early exposure, combined with my professional training as an architect and deep involvement in the building sector, led to a pivotal realization: These two seemingly separate worlds could intersect to create meaningful change.”
Dumpcrete treats waste as a resource that can be used to transform municipal legacy waste and construction debris into functional building blocks. While it was in the development stage when Talwar joined the Creatives for Our Future cohort, he’s now piloted the program in partnership with the Tapas Foundation and the Ramboll Group.
Thoughtful Collaborations
Each interviewed participant mentioned the importance of connecting with their creative cohort and external partners.
Budholiya said, “Being part of such a diverse cohort allowed me to learn from peers across fields and geographies, broadening my understanding of creativity’s potential to drive change.”
Looking Forward
Each Creatives for our Future program cohort participates for one year, with the next cohort running from April 2025 to April 2026. The application for the upcoming cohort has closed, with successful applicants to be announced in April 2025.
