The Guadalajara Reporter

Empowering girls to become tech creators

A group of girls who designed a mobile application that aims to help their fellow teenagers and young women confronted with life-threatening situations took the top prize at Guadalajara’s first Technovation competition Wednesday night.

Five girls from the American School Foundation of Guadalajara presented their idea for the cell phone app, called Panic Button, in front of a large crowd of parents, community members and a six-judge panel of women professionals. (Scroll down for details about the winners and runners up.)

In all, 11 groups of girls with up to five members pitched concepts for apps that solve community problems or address social issues. The event, which drew teams from a variety of Guadalajara schools, was sponsored by software developer Oracle.

The overarching goal of the international Technovation program is to show girls “they can be not just users of technology, but creators of technology,” said Maria Makarova, coordinator of the event in Guadalajara.

Given the creativity and poise under pressure the girls – some as young as 12 years old – represented Wednesday night, it’s clear that message is getting out.

Apps addressing personal safety, especially that of women and girls, was a common concern. Three groups designed apps to help users quickly get in touch with police officials, or a loved one, if they ever felt they were in danger.

In their presentation, the winning team, called FEPADE, emphasized the danger young women feel when they need to leave their homes at night. Their app would allow users to quickly and discreetly send a customized message with their location if they find themselves in trouble.

Other youngsters focused on cleaning up the environment, helping students find tutors or helping people find public transportation routes so they’re able to get across town. The girls demonstrated wide-ranging creativity in their apps: some wanted to help people save time by registering their clothes in an app that would then help them choose an outfit; while another group opted for a smart shopping list that would notify users when they got near a store that sold a product they needed.

The impressive panel of judges – including Ana Maria Najar of IBM, Ada Cabrales of Intel, Acacia Tena of Intel, Leonor Tenorio of Bank of America, Karen Orozco of Oracle and Madhuri Kolhatkar of Oracle – said just before announcing the winners how impressed they were all of the girls’ efforts. They encouraged the girls to continue their interests, and asked their parents to support them.

In a brief Q&A segment following each presentation, the judges didn’t hold back on raising tough questions, quizzing girls as young as 12 on a topic that would cause a 33-year-old journalist to stammer: “What’s your business plan?”

They also asked another group working on a personal safety app how they would keep contact information for various law enforcement agencies and civil organizations updated.

The girls, who were well prepared, answered the questions calmly and with level-headedness in conditions that could cause adults more than twice their age to panic.

One judge, Madhuri Kolhatker of Oracle, pleaded with the girls to follow up on their interest in science and technology, eager for the fresh ideas they could one day bring her company.

“Please I need you,” she said. “Continue working!”

And the winners are ...

FIRST PRIZE

Team: Maria Ines Ibarra, Cassandra Torres, Jaqueline Ting, Paloma Calderón, and Daphne Rios.

Mentor: Karina Gómez Nava

The app: Panic Button. An app that allows users to discreetly notify a designated contact of their location and a customized message if they feel they’re in a life-threatening situation and need help.

SECOND PRIZE (tie)

Team: Cynthia Atziri Garibay, Raquel Mercado, Claudia Odette Zuñiga and Elizabeth Álvarez.

Mentor: Lucero Quilla.

The app: EcoMind. An app to help users learn about reusing and recycling in a fun way through use of an avatar that lives in a dirty, uninhabited world that must be cleaned up. As users collect points, they learn tips about reusing items that might otherwise be tossed out.

Team: Citlali Álvarez González, Karen Michel Arana Garay, Andrea Paulina Guevara González, Rebeca Romo Flores, and Lucía Velasco García.

Mentor: Karla Maribel Zuloaga Sánchez

The app: Iron Math. A tool that allows students who want to learn connect with students who want to teach. The app would offer students a variety of video tutorials and other materials made available by their classmates.

THIRD PRIZE

Team: Nohemi Partida Guzmán, Marisa Rivera Puga, Andrea Xcaret Martínez Hernández and Cynthia Priscila Puga Pérez.

Mentor: Ana Teresa Taraco.

The app: Skip lines. An app that allows you to order and quickly pick up food from various restaurants. It also tracks nutritional information about what you’re eating to help your diet and cut down on obesity.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The next step for the Technovation contest is the global competition, which local event coordinator Maria Markarova said is completely independent of the local contest. The girls—all of whom are encouraged to apply for the global contest—have until May 2 to submit the needed materials. That gives the groups three weeks to use the feedback they received from the judging panel to improve their business plans, presentations and the functionality of their apps, Markarova said.