What drew BYU students from all over campus—from all disciplines—to gather, listen, and participate throughout the semester in one competition?
Some have followed the competition from the beginning, from speed mentoring to the SIOY Showcase to the final competition on Feb. 26. Some may have been introduced to SIOY first by those finals: the smell of free pizza, raffle prizes, or the promise wisecracks from James Perry, an original Studio C cast member and BYU mechanical engineering alum.
Each event drew students in, filling every seat, some even deciding to stand in the hallways to stay and watch.
All of the teams competing for the 2026 Student Innovator of the Year (SIOY) title had one thing in common.
They were innovating for good.
The deep expertise and care for real issues was magnetic. For this year’s champion, Spencer Stowell with FidgiTech, a solution for sensory needs beyond the average fidget toy came from his daughter’s interest in light switches.
“She’d want me to pick her up so that I could hold her next to the light switch and she could flip them on and off,” Stowell said. “It just got me thinking, what is it about her development and her experiencing that specific thing that engages her so much?”
After competing in the 2025 season of SIOY with a team, Stowell came into his second year as a lone competitor, invested in taking the Fidget Box further. He discovered a broad group of people that have atypical sensory needs, then adjusted his fourth iteration to meet those needs.
“You can actually just swap around the different fidgets on there that make it so you can customize it to the needs of the individual who is looking to scratch a specific itch or engage with a specific sense,” Stowell said.
The Fidget Box won Stowell $12k and opened opportunities for FidgiTech to join with several eager business partners. However, the future of FidgiTech is still upin the air.
“There's a lot of people that believe in it, but the reality is that I am a PhD student. I am a husband and a father of two little girls,” Stowell said. “There's all these other demands on my time and on my life right now.”
Joseph Garcia, a BYU senior in entrepreneurial management, is another student striving to balance daily life with innovating for others through his SIOY project, MOBI.
MOBI is a kitchen workstation for people with limited mobility who are “getting left behind in their own kitchens” that restores independence by being height-adjustable, Garcia said. His dad was an Air Force physician, and his grandpa has spent time in a wheelchair, so he was surrounded by this need growing up.
The invention started as a group project in college but required help after Garcia was left to keep it going alone. His grandpa, parents, brother, and friends all pitched in to bring the prototype to SIOY Showcase.
“Once you learn to love the problem, you know, learn all the intricacies inside and out, then you're able to better understand it and have a better solution,” Garcia said. “It turned out good in the end. I had a lot of help from unanticipated places and from people along the way. God’s good in that way.”
Although his project didn’t make it to the finals, Garcia won $500 from an honorable mention at the SIOY Showcase with MOBI and is looking to work with professional manufacturers to get it ready for market, finding ways to create affordable access for those who need the workstation.
“It would be my dream if I could see a lot of veterans get this kind of thing for free."
With a similar dream, the Clarion Sense team hopes to implement their sensor—a wall plug-in to detect bowel movements from molecules in the air, which alerts caregivers to give timely care to dependent individuals—in assisted living care after getting a patent.
Caleb Coons, a BYU junior in bioinformatics, worked with the team through a capstone and research link. His time as a CNA brings an understanding of the sensor’s potential to help many.
“It's more of a product that I really believe in, and I really want to see it actually succeed,” Coons said. “Even though we didn't win anything at SIOY, I think the networking and seeing everybody else's passion too is pretty invaluable.”
EJ Smith, a BYU senior in global supply chain management and team member of Rotala, said that competing and placing third at finals taught her how to do business in a new way, convince others that a problem needs solving, and work with different skillsets in a team towards one goal.
I've learned the importance of having really energetic people that drive the team,” Smith said. “I'm really grateful for SIOY and the position that it has given to all of us.
Trade shows allowed teams to see the real impact their products could have. At a tradeshow in November, the Sori Technologies team presented their smart stuffed animal that helps children with autism transition between tasks.
James Spencer, a BYU senior and electrical engineering major, found it especially motivating to see their product in the hands of kids and parents.
“It's like magic every time,” Spencer said. “And since there isn't anything like this available, the parents are always amazed by it too. They're always shocked at how effective it is.”
Finding a pain point and addressing it is motivation for Spencer to do his best engineering. Through interviews, making connections with therapists and behavioral technicians, and testing with real kids that could benefit from the stuffed animals, he stays focused on his “why.”
“My goal is to make something that works, not just something that looks like it's cool,” Spencer said. “Something that actually has long-term impact and is highly effective.”
That is why these teams get in front of professionals, businessmen, and judges and take criticism to innovate better. That’s why audiences feel awe at what students are doing.
When we're in the comfort zone, there's no growth,” Garcia said. “There's so much good that comes out of this.
Student spectators at SIOY events said their favorite things were seeing real solutions to real issues, the resources that go into innovation, how prepared everyone is, and seeing the potential for each product to help a lot of people. The final competition was recorded and can be accessed on BYU Engineering YouTube, while competition results are posted on the SIOY website.