Twelve finalist teams participated in the World Summit to pitch mobile app solutions tackling pressing issues like COVID-19 and climate change.
LOS ANGELES, August 16, 2021 – Technovation, a global technology education nonprofit, announced that two teams of girls—representing the United States—were named the winners at its 15th annual Technovation World Summit held virtually August 12-13. Additionally, this season, Technovation announced three special awards recognizing: a team with the most effective use of technology to tackle Climate Change, a team that had the most innovative and impactful use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their app, and the team that focused closely on helping communities recover from COVID. The Awards Ceremony, held during World Summit, is a culmination of the annual Technovation Girls program in which teams of girls (ages 10-18) are challenged to develop a mobile application to address local, regional and global issues spanning childhood marriage and domestic abuse to depression, climate change, COVID and more. The two-day event brought together over 2,000 members and supporters of the Technovation community from around the world. Despite barriers such as the global pandemic, nearly 6,000 girls across 65+ countries persevered to complete this year’s program with the support of nearly 3,000 mentors and chapter ambassadors.
Over the course of its 15-year history, Technovation has empowered and equipped more than 100,000 girls across 100+ countries to tackle societal issues using technology. Of those who complete the Technovation Girls program, 76% of alumna pursue a STEM degree and 60% of alumna work in STEM careers.
All finalists will receive a portion of the $38,000 being awarded. The cash and prizes are intended to help further fund their education in STEM and/or assist teams in bringing their product to market.
The Grand Prize winners are:
Senior Division Team: Maji
USA
App name: Maji – Water Security
Maji gives residents a real-time water quality estimate of their household using local testing data and machine learning. The Maji sensor (Raspberry Pi) is an optional, low-cost component that can be purchased to gather additional estimates of their tap water. Maji’s mission is to make real-time water quality information accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere in an effort to promote civilian and municipality proactiveness and collectively combat clean water inequality.
Junior Division Team: MDS
USA
App name: CO2 Sensei
CO2 Sensei enables schools and businesses to reopen safely, so people enjoy indoor activities since good ventilation reduces the spread of COVID-19. Previous research has shown carbon dioxide is a good proxy for ventilation. The app has various ways to view CO2 levels: bluetooth integration, picture uploads with AI to extract text from pictures, and user input. This information is stored in a GoogleSheet and users can see graphs for carbon dioxide levels over time. We provide feedback with color-coded levels, along with guidance on how to improve poor ventilation through our website (www.co2sensei.com). Tabbed navigation allows users to quickly get to the correct place.
Additionally, three special awards were announced at the event recognizing: exceptional solutions addressing climate change, use of AI in their app, and a COVID prize:
The team awarded the Climate Award is AgriCultured, an app aiming to make farming practices more efficient and sustainable in India. By encompassing crop management and detection tools, AgriCultured aims to build a community of sustainable farmers with responsible consumption and production practices.
The team awarded the AI Award is Pocketfires, based in California, which centralizes essential resources for wildfire preparedness in one convenient iOS app. With Pocketfires, residents can check the latest wildfire news, track wildfires on a map, receive urgent push notification warnings upon detecting a high risk of wildfire in their area, and follow helpful guides to effectively prepare for emergencies.
Finally, two additional special awards were given out—the Technology award recognized the teams with the strongest application of technology, and the Social Impact award recognized the teams whose ideas addressed a particularly pressing social issue in their community.
The Technology award was given to team Stellar (based in Ireland) in the Junior Division, and to Team FullSTEAM (based in Brazil) in the Senior Division.
Team Stellar developed the app Stellar, a platform designed to help children and Pediatric Occupational Therapists with remote appointments, progress monitoring, and custom programs for children.
Team FullSTEAM developed the app Nutrie, which promotes healthy habits for children through playful challenges, quizzes, characters, and monitoring.
The Social Innovation award was given to team Free Horizons (based in Spain) in the Junior Division and to team TLioness (based in Kenya) in the Senior Division.
Team Free Horizons developed the app MELT, which helps people monitor and reduce their water usage. The app tracks water consumption from appliances, diet and lifestyle, and plastic materials.
Team TLioness developed MajiMaji App, which makes water more accessible to people living in Kibera, who walk to fetch water daily. The app connects those who wish to buy or sell water fetching services.
In the past year alone, a lot has changed for women, but one thing that has remained constant is their drive and resilience to find solutions for problems they and those in their communities are facing. To recognize the team that has broken down barriers to success over the past year, Technovation awarded team Aiuto Solutions with their first-ever COVID Economic Recovery prize. For micro- to medium-sized charities who need to create and sustain long-lasting relationships with donors, Aiuto Solutions is a mobile app that provides them with the tools to connect with active donors, sustain donation transparency, and communicate impact.
Finalists from all over the world participated including girls from Brazil, Canada, Kenya, Spain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Malaysia and the United States. Technovation partners with leading community and corporate supporters, including those from HSBC, General Motors, Shopify, FactSet, Oracle America, ServiceNow, Cisco, Google, Cadence, TE Connectivity, Vodafone and more to bring opportunities and access to girls and families everywhere.
“We’re proud to work closely with Technovation to help these young women become problem-solvers in their communities, and to inspire the next generation of leaders in a diverse entrepreneurship and tech ecosystem,” said Brittney Oberfeld, Youth Outreach Lead, Social Impact at Shopify. “Through our longstanding partnership, we’re focused on setting these young women up for success by teaching critical skills like solving for real-world problems and collaborating with peers, and empowering them to be the architects of future solutions to problems we haven’t faced yet.”
“With topics like COVID-19 and mental health issues at the forefront of today’s world, it’s more important now than ever to provide this platform for these young women. Technovation and this event harnesses the creativity, intellect, and tenacity of its participants to make a huge difference in the world, just as these girls make a difference in ours with their amazing innovations,” said Tara Chklovski, CEO & founder, Technovation. “Knowing that we are aiding in the future of these promising young women while simultaneously tackling timely issues is the fuel behind this organization and everything it does.”
“We are excited to partner with Technovation again this year to further our commitment to technology education for girls.We were highly impressed by the creativity of the Technovation Girls program to change the world for the better,” said Laura Ruhe, FactSet’s Global head of Corporate Responsibility and Communication. “FactSet employees around the world have volunteered with Technovation to mentor and support girls in this program. And while we seek to inspire the girls, it is our team members who are continually inspired by the girls’ innovation and tenacity.”
The Technovation Girls program is not just about building tech skills; it’s about learning and applying the skills needed to solve real-world problems through technology. Learn more about the finalists, Technovation, and the impact of its global programs here.
About Technovation
Technovation is a global tech education nonprofit that empowers children and adults to become more confident leaders, creators and problem-solvers. Technovation offers interactive learning programs in which young people ages 8-18 and adults in their community learn how to use AI and app-based technologies to solve real-world problems. Technovation partners with leading organizations like UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, UNESCO and and with mentors from companies like Google, to reach children and families in more than 100 countries. To learn more, visit technovation.org.
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