Ottawa Contact:

Jennifer Francis

jennifer.francis@sympatico.ca

What is Technovation •Global challenge to inspire High School and Middle School girls to pursue technology courses

and careers

•In 12 weeks teams of 5 young women identify a problem, create an app to solve it, code the app,

build a company, launch the app and pitch the plan to experts

•Teaches a computer science and entrepreneurship curriculum

•The teams learn algorithmic thinking and programming, societal impact of information and

information technology, how to pitch and enroll others in ideas

•Fun and inspirational

Why Technovation •Enrollment rates in Technology programs at universities in Canada are dropping from current

levels where women make up:

o 23% of engineering grads

o 30% of computer science

•Only 23% of women with top math and science scores in high school choose these fields, versus

45% of men

•Women hold less than 25% of the STEM jobs, even lower in technical tracks in technology

companies

•Companies with higher ratios of women are in aggregate more successful than those with lower

ratios

•We need to draw on the best minds within the whole population to maximize innovation and

growth

Global Reach

Previous Winners

Arriveapp.mobi Attendance check-in system for

schools, parents and students

Moldova

New York

Moldova

Health in a Drop Solution for finding clean water in an

area where almost 80% of the

population lacks access to drinkable

water.

.

362 Apps Created in 2014

Going in the right direction

70% of alumnae took further

Computer Science

courses after

Technovation, when

offered the opportunity

(70% of alumnae said they

would)

44% of college-age alumnae

who have selected a

major chose Computer

Science so far

[I learned] how to make

apps, that not all

computer people are

geeks, [and that] you

can have fun while

doing something to

further your education.”

Technovation in Ottawa •6 participating high schools / 10 teams

o Colonel By

o South Carleton

o Merivale

o Sir Wilfred Laurier

o Longfields Davidson Heights

o Ridgemont

•2 corporate sponsors

o IBM

o Shopify

•1 university sponsor

o Carleton

Program Details •Key dates: program start Jan 12, final registration by Feb 2, submissions due by April 16th

•Ottawa will kick off in mid-January, regular sessions will be once a week Feb to April, excluding

March break

•Sessions will be held at IBM and Shopify – transport considerations will influence final plan

•12 week curriculum from January to April – curriculum is online and flexible

Lesson 1: Basics of App Inventor

Lesson 2: Brainstorming

Lesson 3: Market Research

Lesson 4: User-Centered Design

Lesson 5: Incorporating Feedback

Lesson 6: Entrepreneurship

Lesson 7: Business Plan

Lesson 8: Career Explorations

Lesson 9: Creating Engaging PowerPoints

Lesson 10: Project Submission Guidelines

Lesson 11: Effective Presentations

Lesson 12: Pitch Coaching, Wrap-up, and Survey

Mentor/Coach Role •Mentors will be assigned to teams in January – Ideally 2 per team depending on availability

o Full session is a 40-50 hour commitment

•Mentor role:

o Provide leadership

o Manage team dynamics

o Provide 1-1 interaction with team members

o Share your skills and experiences

o Be a role model

o Encourage and Inspire

•Coach role:

o Help teach the curriculum

o Technical help and assistance

o May help across multiple teams

•Course materials are all available on line, so coaches and mentors are supporting not developing

the curriculum

•The contest requires development, marketing, business skills – you can each bring different skills

and expertise to the teams

Final Deliverable •The Technovation Challenge submission consists of:

o App source code (can be developed in Android, iOS, or Windows)

o Up to 4minute video pitch (upload to YouTube or Vimeo and share the link)

o Up to 2minute app demo video (upload to YouTube or Vimeo and share the link)

o Business plan (pdf)

o Team photo (with mentor and teacher included, if possible) for each team

o 100word app description

o Completion of postsurvey

o Presentation (post on Slideshare and share link)

•Ottawa regional contest to determine winning local entry late April or early May

o Top 10 teams globally go to California for World Pitch and chance to win 10,000

This year 1,500 girls from around the world created 362

mobile phone apps in attempts to solve a problem in

their community!

By using the mobile technology this early in their

formative years there is a greater chance that these

girls will continue to engage with technology shape the

world.

And that Fatima, Nathalia, Kate, Huma, etc. will be the

worlds’ next Steve, Mark, Larry , Sergey.

Getting girls to plug in, one app at a time