This past May, Peter Thiel announced the appointment of twenty-four Thiel Fellows. These are young people—all under the age of 20—who are interested in solving difficult problems and in increasing the quality of life for people everywhere. Thiel wants to help these young people become the next generation of tech visionaries. You can read about each of the Fellows here. 

While the intent of the Thiel Foundation was to choose 20 fellows, there were so many excellent applicants that it was impossible to stop at the appointed number; instead, they decided to choose 24. These are individuals who are challenging the authority of the present and the familiar. More than 400 people applied to be Fellows. Applications arrived from nearly two dozen countries and from nearly two hundred high schools, junior colleges, community colleges, four-year colleges, and graduate schools. Many applicants never went to college, had stopped going to school, were already working, or had already launched their own companies. Many had long personal histories of entrepreneurship.

 

The Fellows are pursuing  innovative scientific and technical projects, learning entrepreneurship, and beginning to build the technology companies of tomorrow. During their two-year tenures, each Fellow will receive $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation as well as mentorship from the Foundation’s network of tech entrepreneurs and innovators. The project areas for this class of fellows include biotech, career development, economics and finance, education, energy, information technology, mobility, robotics, and space.

 

The next application period for 20 Under 20 will be available after October 1, 2011. Criteria for application will not be released until then. If you would like to be on the mailing list for the application when it comes out, sign up under the “Contact Us” at the Thiel Foundation website.