STUDENTS and apprentices have less than a week to submit their inventions to the Young Innovators Challenge.

The closing date for the competition, which asks young people in Scotland to come up with business ideas to help address pressing social issues, is April 8.

Now in its third year, 2015's Young Innovators Challenge asks entrepreneurs to focus on the areas of healthcare and wellbeing, green and sustainable energy and smarter communities and infrastructure.

One of last year's winners, University of Strathclyde graduate Christopher McCann, has created a potentially life-saving wrist band - 'snap40' - which monitors hospital patients' vital signs and sends out an SOS if it detects early warning signs of heart attacks, stroke and other illnesses.

Christopher said: "Being a Young Innovators Challenge winner in 2014 has been instrumental in helping me take forward the snap40 concept to the point where we're now looking to trial the wristbands in NHS hospitals in the next 12 months.

"The competition provided fantastic support and guidance to the business. As well as it being a good opportunity to discuss ideas and problems, I developed a number of extremely useful contacts that have proven invaluable to my company."

Fiona Godsman, chief executive for competition organisers Scottish Institute for Enterprise, said:

"Scotland has a strong support network for budding entrepreneurs to help make it as easy as possible for them to take the plunge into business.

"The Young Innovators Challenge is here to help those social start-ups begin their journey by providing them with practical business support and funding from day one."

Thirty of the best entries will win £2000 each, as well as hands-on advice from some of Scotland's leading businesses to help them develop their ideas over the summer. Winners will have the opportunity to return in August to pitch their ideas to judges for additional funding of up to £5000.

Judges include social innovator, Josh Littlejohn (organiser of the Scottish Business Awards); Susan Aktemel, director of Homes for Good; Graham Bell, chief executive of Kibble Foundation and Tony Banks, chairman of Balhousie Care Group.

For more information on the Young Innovators Challenge 2015 and to enter, visit www.sie.ac.uk/YIC