Future Lions, the global competition founded by AKQA in partnership with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and supported by media partner, The Wall Street Journal, has announced its 2025 winners.
Future Lions champions young innovators using technology and creativity to solve pressing global challenges. Now in its 20th year, Future Lions celebrates bold ideas that wouldn’t have been possible just three years ago; transforming visionary thinking into real-world impact. This year’s open brief invited young creatives to choose any brand and explore how technology can help shape a better future.
Alongside the announcement of this year’s Future Lions winners, Miami Ad School has been named the 2025 School of the Year. The award recognises its global impact in shaping the next generation of creative leaders, with a presence in 10 countries and a curriculum grounded in real-world briefs, emerging technologies, and AI integration. The school equips students to lead with both craft and curiosity, and empowers talent from all backgrounds to thrive and reimagine the future of creativity through scholarships, mentorship, and industry partnerships.
This year’s winning ideas tackle environmental protection, inclusive technology, early disease detection, and dignity through design. Each of the four winning teams received a Future Lions trophy at the Cannes Lions awards presentation on Monday night.
This year’s winners presented the following concepts:
The Noama Paddle
Miami Ad School Brazil. Brand: Greenpeace
Inspired by the Yanomami culture, the Noama Paddle uses mercury-sensitive ink to change colour in contaminated water, empowering Indigenous communities to detect health risks and expose environmental crimes.
Team: Breno Bonelli, Gabriel Lyra, Giulia Rebello, Marina Quadros, Yago Meneses.
Rewrite
Brother School of Creatives Madrid. Brand: Adobe
Rewrite helps individuals with Parkinson’s disease preserve both their legibility and sense of identity by restoring altered handwriting to its original form. By enabling them to continue writing, the tool supports efforts to slow the progression of the disease, something studies have shown can be beneficial.
Team: Ainhoa Solis Martinez, Cathy González González.
SkinID
Berghs School of Communication Sweden. Brand: Apple
Transforming Face ID into a daily health tool, SkinID conducts automatic skin scans to detect early signs of skin cancer, seamlessly integrated into everyday mobile routines.
Team: Alice Sävman, Erik Arthursson, Saga Lind.
Text Layer
Sookmyung Women’s University South Korea. Brand: Apple
A mobile accessibility tool for people with visual dyslexia, Text Layer uses eye-tracking to identify and adjust colours to enhance legibility and elevate reading ability.
Team: Geunah Kim, Haeun Jung, Jiyoung Park, Kyungmin Lee, Sumin Lee.
Phillipa Leighton-Jones, SVP and global head of studio & creative at The Trust, Wall Street Journal, stated, “It’s been an honour to support Future Lions in spotlighting these ideas that are not only creative but deeply empathetic and timely. We’re continually inspired by how young talent harnesses technology to design a more inclusive and resilient future.”
Peter Lund, global chief creative officer at AKQA, added, “Future Lions has always challenged norms, invented new tools, and reimagined possibilities. These winners exemplify how the next generation applies creativity to humanity’s most urgent needs, proving once again that the future is in inspired hands.”
Gemma Redgrave, Global Head of Marketing at AKQA, commented, “Future Lions 2025 marks two decades of extraordinary ideas. These young creators remind us that creativity isn’t just about expression, it’s a tool for transformation. They’re shaping a future we all want to live in.”
