by Life | Dec 6, 2021
– The event, held at the schools IES Benaguasil Sostenible and Colegio Asunción Nuestra Señora, was attended by the councillor for Open Government, Communication, Administrative Modernization and European Projects, Stephane Soriano, and María José Valero, CEO of Talent Growth Management and ambassador of Technovation Girls Comunidad Valenciana.
– Technovation Girls is the largest entrepreneurship and technology programme/course that aims to inspire girls and young women between the ages of 10 and 18 to train for careers in the STEAM area.
– It will allow students from Benaguasil’s schools to work on challenges related to forestry management, sustainable tourism, waste management, innovation in agriculture and sustainable fashion.
– More than 15,000 girls from 100 countries have already taken part in this initiative, which has been promoted by the American non-profit association Technovation since 2009.
Valencia, 3 December 2021– The schools of the Valencian town of Benaguasil IES Benaguasil Sostenible and Colegio Asunción Nuestra Señora, have been the scene, this Friday 3 December, of the launch of the Finnova – Technovation Girls challenges, within the framework of the Youth Green Deal for Future: Technovation Girls event, the largest technological entrepreneurship competition for girls worldwide, of the American non-profit association Technovation. The Finnova Foundation, which focuses on funding innovation through a variety of channels, has encouraged local young people to enter the Finnova challenges, which will allow school students to work on challenges related to forestry management, sustainable tourism, waste management, innovation in agriculture and sustainable fashion. These challenges are inspired by the Interreg projects CILIFO, Firepoctep, HIBA and NAPOCTEP, of which the foundation is a beneficiary, as well as the LIFE Ecodigestión 2.0 project and the COSME CircularInnoBooster project, made up of international partners including Finnova.
The event, organized by Benaguasil Town Council and funded by the Generalitat Valenciana, is part of the “Youth Green Deal for Future” project funded through grants for training and dissemination activities in the field of EU and External Action. The Challenge Launch Day is the starting point of the programme. The young people will be guided by a tutor or mentor who will enable them to realize their innovative ideas so that they have real applicability.
The councillor for Open Government, Communication, Administrative Modernization and European Projects of Benaguasil Town Council, Stephane Soriano, and María José Valero, CEO of Talent Growth Management and ambassador of Technovation Girls Comunidad Valenciana, accompanied the director of Finnova, Juan Manuel Revuelta, in this official launch of the challenges, whose winners will be awarded with a trip to Brussels to meet the European institutions.
“The Finnova Foundation’s commitment to innovation and sustainability is evident in these challenges that we are launching to encourage young people, and girls, to work for a more sustainable world, using new technologies. We are very proud to be part of this initiative that seeks to train girls in STEAM through Finnova-Technovation Girls Challenges, and to motivate girls and teenagers between 10 and 18 years old to become entrepreneurs and leaders in the technological field”, said Juan Manuel Revuelta.
Solving a social problem
The Finnova Foundation collaborates with Technovation Girls through a series of challenges, linked to real projects of which Finnova is a partner and which are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. These challenges are open to the participation of young people of any gender, with the only condition that the groups are led by girls, contributing to the empowerment of young women.
Led in Valencia by María José Valero, CEO of Talent Growth Management and ambassador of Technovation Girls Comunidad Valenciana, the aim of this competition is to create groups of girls and young women aged between 10 and 18 so that, with the help of a mentor, they can develop a mobile application (app) that helps to solve a social problem that is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. In this way, in a fun and didactic way, the girls learn about programming concepts, app development, the development of a marketing plan and market research, in addition to learning about the social problems that affect their communities.
European Green Deal
Youth Green Deal for Future will link the European Green Deal policies with the Technovation Girls methodology through the Finnova challenges.
The European Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives of the European Commission with the overall objective of making the European Union (EU) climate neutral by 2050. Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat facing Europe and the rest of the world. To overcome these challenges, the European Green Pact will transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.
The European Commission adopted proposals to adapt EU climate, energy, transport and taxation policies to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Achieving these emission reductions over the next decade is crucial for Europe to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and for the European Green Pact to materialise. However, these challenges cannot be achieved without the participation of all actors in society, from the political sphere to citizens, the public sector, the private sector, universities, etc. This is why the role of municipalities, due to their proximity to citizens, as well as that of citizens in general, is of utmost importance, not only by raising awareness but also by giving them the opportunity to take action with projects such as Youth Green Deal for Future: Technovation Girls.
