Image via Technovation
Girls from all around the world are competing in the Technovation Challenge, a global effort by STEM education nonprofit Iridescent, which has invited girls ages 10-18 to learn and apply technology to try to solve problems in their communities.
This year, 11,000 girls worked in teams of one to five to build mobile apps and address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which are internationally agreed upon objectives. In conjunction with U.N. Women, their projects were required to address at least one issue within the SDG focus areas: quality education, poverty elimination, good health and well-being, climate action, peace and justice or gender equality.
Over 2000 mentors for the girls supported the teams. In addition to learning about tech, the girls used professional-style business planning to launch these apps.
Twelve teams of finalists will be flown to Silicon Valley, Aug. 7-11, where they will pitch their ideas for seed funding and scholarships. The effort is sponsored by Google’s Made with Code, a project launched in June 2014 to inspire teen girls around the world to take their first steps in code and to see it as a vehicle to pursue their aspirations.
The finalists teams will compete at the World Pitch Summit, hosted by Google, at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Between Aug. 7 and 11, they’ll have the opportunity to meet each other, pitch their ideas and visit tech companies.
The 12 teams are divided into senior division and junior division finalists. The senior division finalists come from Karbi, Armenia; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Kisumu, Kenya; Noida, India; and Bengaluru, India.
The junior division finalists come from Chennai, India; Vancouver, Canada; California; Jordan, Hong Kong; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Currently in its eighth year, Technovation has worked with more than 15,000 girls around the world to develop mobile apps and startups to solve problems around a diverse range of issues, including food safety, nutrition, poverty and more.
After participating in Technovation, 60 percent of girls from the United States enroll in further computer science (CS) courses, with 30 percent majoring in CS in college, which is 65 times the national rate for U.S. female college students, according to the release. Internationally, 70 percent of the girls are interested in pursuing further technology related programs, the release said.
Some examples of apps created by the girls this year include iCut, an Android app that helps report and fight female genital mutilation; and an Ability app that helps connect disabled Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with the resources they need, such as mental health care.
Winning teams will receive a total of $145,000 in awards, including scholarships.
These girls are paving the future of coding, and it is great to see so many get involved.
(Story via THE Journal)