About LBX
LBX — Lead · Build · eXplore — is an international science and innovation competition for students aged 12 to 18. It exists for one reason: to take the curiosity that schools rarely have time to develop, and give it somewhere to go.
What we believe
The best learning happens when a young person picks a problem that matters to them, builds something to address it, and then has to explain the choices they made to people who will push back. That sequence — choose, build, defend — is the spine of every LBX season.
Lead
We do not assign topics. Students arrive with a question, or they find one during the orientation programme. Mentors help refine the question, but the decision about what to work on belongs to the student. Ownership is the precondition for everything else.
Build
Every entry must include something a stranger can use, run, read, or reproduce. A paper alone is not enough. We ask for an artefact — a prototype, a dataset, a piece of working software, a designed study — and the documentation needed to understand it. The work has to leave the head and become a thing.
eXplore
The X is deliberate. We reward projects that open new questions, that admit what didn't work, and that follow a line of thought past the point where a school project would normally stop. Honest exploration is judged more highly than a polished result built on a shallow idea.
How LBX is structured
A season runs across an academic year. Students register individually or in teams of up to four and choose a regional hub — Singapore, Hong Kong, London, or New York. From registration through the regional showcase, participants work with assigned mentors, submit two interim checkpoints, and present a final project. Top entries from each region advance to the LBX Global Final.
Who runs it
LBX is organised by an independent academic committee with representatives from partner universities and research institutions in each host city. Judges are working researchers, engineers, founders, and educators — not professional competition judges. Mentors are postgraduate students and early-career professionals trained by the committee.
What we are not
LBX is not a science fair where projects are graded against a rubric and ranked. It is not an admissions accelerator that promises university placement. It is not a credential manufacturer. It is a competition built so that students who want to make something serious can find each other, find people willing to read their work carefully, and leave with something they are proud of.