TIC Americas and OAS-SEDI present award on Social Innovation
Thousands of young entrepreneurs are mobilized each year to
participate in
TIC Americas
- the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas – as they
seek to develop and improve their business plans, gain international
visibility, and enhance their networking and market access. This
year, TIC Americas, now in its ninth edition, received over 4,000
proposals from 39 countries. The winners were announced at a side
event of the 44th General Assembly of the OAS in Paraguay.
OAS-SEDI joined forces with the
Young
Americas Business Trust (YABT) this year in launching a new
category on Social Innovation: the "Best entrepreneurship on social
innovation in the Americas". 707 teams from 20 countries
participated in this category within TIC Americas. After a very
selective process undertaken by international judges from different
backgrounds, Alvaro Carrasco and Robinson Salinas from Chile won for
their online
anti-bullying platform "YouVo".
OAS Secretary General,
José Miguel Insulza, praised "the talent and
creativity of our hemisphere’s young people" and highlighted that
this year's TIC Americas drew the largest number of participants in
its history.
YouVo received U$5,000 to
support project implementation, which was delivered by OAS Executive
Secretariat for Integral Development, Sherry Tross, who noted that
"TIC Americas continues to evolve and innovate. One example is this
year’s inclusion of the category on Social Innovation, opening yet
another space to foster youth’s creativity, social responsibility
and inclusive vision of the region”.
TIC Americas 2014 was promoted by the
YABT in collaboration with
the OAS, PepsiCo, Central American Bottling Corporation (CBC),
Visión Banco and the Government of Paraguay. OAS-SEDI and the YABT
will explore opportunities to deepen collaboration, particularly in
relation to the upcoming Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) to be
held in October 2014.
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"The momentum gained by
YouVo since the TIC Americas
awards was instant. Since our
return to Chile, we have
contacted 2 new schools to start
new initiatives and the project
has been pre-selected by
Microsoft’s business accelerator
ImagineLab to make the YouVo
online platform as scalable as
possible and reach all countries
in Latin America. Participating
in TIC Americas and meeting the
OAS and YABT staff marked a
before and an after for YouVo.
"
Alvaro Carrasco, YouVo, Chile
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