Technovation's
2022 Impact
A message from Tara Chklovski, CEO and Founder of Technovation
Overcoming the fear of failure
Dear Friends,
One of the biggest obstacles to overcome on the entrepreneurial journey is conquering the fear of failure. Seventeen years ago, when I was thinking about starting Technovation, I immersed myself in the research, spending weeks seeking out insights into the optimal solution to increasing diversity in STEM. Eventually, my husband dared me to just try something – by August – and that gave me the push I needed to pilot our first program. I put an ad in the newspaper, hand-painted some signs, and that was the beginning of our Family Science program, which grew into running two science studios and piloting several hands-on STEM programs.
In 2022, we similarly pushed ourselves to once again overcome our fear of failure. Instead of setting incremental growth goals as we had done in years past, we worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to develop a bold vision for growing our impact and reaching 25 million girls around the world in the next 15 years. Globally, the digital skills gap is massive, and despite decades of work, women still account for just 20% of science, engineering, and ICT jobs globally. To address these challenges, our solutions need to be bigger and bolder. However, we know that this is not something we can do alone. Over the years, we have built a network of community, corporate, and philanthropic partners, and we hope to strengthen those partnerships and seek out new strategic partners to help us scale our program.
In 2022, I was invited to share more about Technovation’s work on international stages including UNESCO’s Transforming Education Summit in Paris and the UN’s Climate Convention, COP27 in Egypt. Technovation was also chosen among the top 3% of 4,000+ global applicants to be featured as a “proven and ready-to-scale solution” for the UNDP’s Digital X Solutions Catalogue. Having Technovation’s work recognized by three different UN bodies is an incredible honor and validates that Technovation’s model is both unique and impactful.
This report highlights some of the incredible stories of Technovation’s impact on girls and young women all around the world. As a supporter of the Technovation, I hope you enjoy reading it and reflecting on the collective impact the organization is having. I am very proud of what we have accomplished this past year – and excited about reaching more and more girls in the coming years.
Thank you for your support!
Tara Chklovski
Season Highlights
Standouts from the 2021-2022 Technovation Girls season
What girls learned: in their own words
In 2022, we asked the girls to tell us what they learned in their own words. Check out what teams from around the world had to say about how the program impacted them by reading a selection of the learning journeys in this map.
AI Prototypes
In 2022, 16% of teams submitted projects that used AI. This was the first year that teams had the option to submit an AI prototype in lieu of a mobile app. There were 85 teams that submitted AI prototypes, along with many more teams who incorporated AI into their mobile apps.
We were proud to introduce additional curriculum units about AI to help teach students the basics of artificial intelligence technologies and ways to incorporate AI tools into their projects, if they were interested.
Technovation’s vision is to teach and empower girls to develop 21st century workforce skills and prepare them for a future where AI will be a larger part of their day-to-day lives, while also setting the groundwork to create a more inclusive workforce.
Alumnae Program
Technovation has over 125,000 young women alumnae around the world. In 2022, Technovation was busy building out our alumnae programming and community. Over 100 alumnae student ambassadors from over 30 countries built their leadership skills while acting as local champions for Technovation. We awarded our first-ever alumnae changemaker award to recognize an alumna who has worked to solve an environmental problem in their community this year. We also set the stage to launch three alumnae-led career hubs in the US, Canada, and Brazil in 2023.
Meet our incredible alumnae from around the world
Winnie, from Tanzania
Winnie is the first-ever winner of Technovation’s Alumnae Changemaker Award for her work as founder of the social enterprise, Morogoro Cocopeat. The business has sold more than 50 tons of Cocopeat and helped more than 200 farmers shift from using regular soil to cocopeat, an eco-friendly, organically grown alternative.
Marina, from Brazil
Meet Marina, a Technovation alumna and student ambassador from Brazil. Marina didn't think she would ever be good at STEM, but through Technovation Girls she faced her fears and her team even won the Technology Award in 2021! She knew she wanted to do even more, and joined us as a Student Ambassador to actively support other girls like her in 2022.
Hear Marina share her storySidney, from the US
Sidney is a computer science student at Stanford University. She is currently on leave to work on her AI start-up, Chord.
Chord is a large-language model curating customer reviews that won $600,000 from the NEO Accelerator.
2022 Technovation Events
Technovation held two global online events in 2022
Our World Summit event was held in August, and we hosted our first-ever Career Summit in October. Both events were filled with workshops, panels, and words from inspiring tech leaders.
World Summit 2022
Our World Summit event in August brought together individuals from over 60 countries to celebrate and inspire all of the Technovation Girls teams and volunteers. The event included an opening Keynote from Zena Cardman, a Marine Scientist turned NASA Astronaut. Our alumnae keynote was Michelle Muchilwa, who mobilized people around East Africa to restore Lake Victoria.
Career Summit
This year, we hosted our first-ever Career Summit! The one-day event was designed for alumnae, and helped increased their awareness of the diverse career opportunities open to them. The event also included networking opportunities with fellow alumnae and representatives from leading tech companies. Alumnae attendees hailed from 33 countries with the top countries including the United States, Nigeria, Brazil, India, Canada, and Kenya.
Missed the event? Watch featured talks from Career Summit speakers.
Our Impact
Our Commitment to Reach Underserved Girls
Technovation is committed to supporting girls in under-resourced communities. In 2022, more than half of participants represented countries with a human development index ranking below .8.
51%
of Technovation Girls students attend schools that do not teach coding
18%
of Technovation Girls students lacked regular access to computers and/or the internet.
Equipping Girls with the Skills of the Future
Our 2022 program surveys showed that students gained skills in areas that the World Economic Forum defined as “the top skills of the future” including problem-solving, technology, self-management, and working with people.
Looking Ahead
Coming Soon: Our plan to empower 25 million girls over the next 15 years
Educating girls is the most powerful tool we have to create a better world, but we need to set bigger, bolder goals. Technovation has created a 15-year strategic plan to scale our proven model to serve more girls around the world. Women and girls bear the brunt of humanity’s biggest challenges. We’re sharing our plan in a few weeks. Together let’s go beyond basic literacy and empower them with the digital, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills they need to tackle the world’s most complex problems.
2022 Technovation Financials
Investing in Underinvested Communities
In 2022, Technovation was able to invest over $300,000 in program implementation grants to our community partners serving girls in underinvested communities. These grants are usually small grants, around $5,000 or less, but have a huge impact our chapters’ abilities to reach and retain girls in their communities. The funding supports program costs such as internet, software, transportation, and community celebration and pitch events, which help underserved girls overcome barriers to participating in and completing the program.
Thank You to Our Supporters and Volunteers!
We are so grateful to all of Technovation’s supporters and volunteers around the world! It is only because of your generosity in sharing your time and resources that this incredibly impactful work is being done around the world. We hope that you feel a strong sense of joy and pride while reading the exciting stats and success stories showcased throughout this report.
Technovation teams were supported by nearly 4,500 volunteers including around 3,000 mentors, 1,100 judges, and over 300 chapter, club, and student ambassadors.
Corporate Partner Spotlight: Ericsson
Hear more mentor storiesVolunteer Spotlight: Dorcas
Read Dorcas' StoryStudent Ambassador: Sabrina
Read Sabrina's StoryThank you to our partners, supporters, and funders!
