Recruiting participants for “Technovation Girls 2025,” the world’s largest app development contest for junior high and high school girls, has begun!

We are now recruiting participants for “Technovation Girls 2025,” the world’s largest app development contest for junior high and high school girls! ​
Waffle Press release: October 1, 2024 Recruiting participants for “Technovation Girls 2025,” the world’s largest app development contest for junior high and high school girls, has begun! The finalists for the 2024 World Championship have been selected for the first time from Japan. Become a tech leader who changes society! Waffle (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Chairman: Sayaka Tanaka, hereinafter referred to as Waffle), a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate the gender gap in the IT field, is an international app development competition called “Technovation” to foster the next generation of tech leaders. We are looking for Japanese participants for Girls 2025 (sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). Starting today, Japan Region Official Website Applications for participation will begin at . Technovation Girls is one of the world’s largest technology education programs for teenage girls and gender minorities (*), sponsored by the American STEM NPO “Technovation”. The main features of this program are that even beginners with no programming experience can participate, and that they can receive accompanying support from front-line business people who can be considered role models. Participants will be able to acquire IT skills and entrepreneurial spirit through the development of apps that aim to solve social issues. Waffle supports contestants from Japan as the official Japanese ambassador.
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Program contents Technovation Girls is an initiative that increases opportunities for girls and gender minority middle and high school students to be exposed to IT, leading to the development of the next generation of diverse leaders. Particularly in rural areas, there are few opportunities to come into contact with IT or meet role models, and it is difficult for junior high and high school students to develop an image of their career path or career, which is one of the factors that makes it difficult for junior high and high school students to become interested in science and engineering careers. To solve these challenges, Waffle has developed a unique support program for Japanese contestants. Participants will form teams of up to five people and, over a period of six months, will discuss how to use technology to solve the social issues they have set themselves. As a result, we will create an app and business plan and submit it to a global competition held in the United States. During the program, we will also actively provide opportunities to meet female entrepreneurs and engineers who are active in the technology field. Furthermore, apart from the global competition, an official pitch event will be held in June 2025 as a unique domestic program. Similar to startup entrepreneurs presenting to accelerators and investors, teams selected through pre-screening can present their apps and business plans to judges from sponsoring companies for evaluation. As a unique program for Japanese contestants, you can receive the following support. ・Business development course : Learn the basics of business and support experience in starting a business. ・App development course : Provides an opportunity to learn the latest technologies such as programming and generative AI. ・Accompaniment support : We maintain high motivation and support learning through guidance from front-line business people and TAs (teaching assistants)/mentors. ・Rental of computers and Wi-Fi equipment: We will lend the equipment necessary for the program and provide an environment that makes it easy to participate (this is for those who do not have equipment available at home. Details will be provided after applying for this program). Recruitment Guidelines (For the latest information, please visit the Japan Region official website.) 1. Program overview ・Name:
Technovation Girls 2025 ・Sponsor: USA・Technovation ・Official ambassador in Japan: Waffle, a specified non-profit organization ・Japanese programs and official events Sponsored by: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ・Japanese domestic sponsors (as of October 1, 2024, in no particular order): Lenovo Japan LLC Japan Research Institute Co., Ltd. Unity Technologies Japan Co., Ltd. ・Participation fee: Free ・Application deadline: November 24, 2024 (Sunday) 23:59 (Japan time) ・Preliminary briefing session (online): October 13th (Sunday), 27th (Sunday), November 17th (Sunday) Held from 10:00 am to 11:00 am 2. Participation conditions ・Having the desire to grow in order to change the world. ・Junior high school students who are 13 years old or older as of December 1, 2024, and 18 years old or younger as of August 1, 2025. *The application condition for the U.S. “Technovation Girls” is 8 years old or older, but since this time everything will be held online, Waffle is targeting middle school students and older. ) ・Be able to participate in the 7-day app development course and 4-day business development course (total of about 30 hours) held from December to mid-February 2024. ・Be able to secure time for activities in an online environment for about 5 hours a week for 5 months from January to May 2025 (For those selected as finalists at Japan’s official pitch event, activities will continue until mid-June) ). – Must live in Japan and be able to speak Japanese (regardless of nationality or race). ・Women and gender minorities. ▼“Technovation Girls 2025 Japan Region” official website
https://www.technovation.waffle-waffle.org ▼“Technovation Girls 2025 Japan Region” application form
https://share.hsforms.com/1pGpky28sRE28rY-GWuO3gwcjgs8 ▼“Technovation Girls 2025 Japan Region” Pre-briefing application form
https://share.hsforms.com/1PGFkf4nVRiK_w3Vr_H12Fgcjgs8 ▼“Technovation Girls” official website (English) https://technovationchallenge.org/ What is Technovation Girls? Technovation Girls is an event organized by Technovation, an American STEM education NPO, in which teens compete in four areas: idea, pitch (presentation), technical ability, and entrepreneurial spirit, with the aim of fostering the next generation of female IT entrepreneurs. This is a technology education program for Last time (2024), approximately 11,000 teams from 132 countries around the world participated. In Japan, Waffle works with other educational NPOs to support participants in the world
competition. Last time, a total of 409 people and 85 teams from 47 prefectures nationwide participated, the largest number ever. The app was developed with the support of over 150 adult volunteers, including those from major companies, and after a four-month program, seven teams were selected as semi-finalists and one team was selected as a finalist in the global competition. ▼“Technovation Girls 2024” Themes tackled by Japanese contestants (partial) ・Dementia prevention app using origami ・Train transfer guidance app for wheelchair users ・Disaster support app for the hearing impaired ・Political
participation app for young people ・Communication app for students and foreign tourists ・An app that provides learning opportunities on ESG investment for high school students ・Simulation game aimed at elementary and junior high school students to deepen their
understanding of food allergies ・An app that uses gamification to reduce smartphone addiction among elementary school students ・An app that prevents people in poverty from becoming isolated at work ・An app that aims to solve the problem of “food loss” from a welfare perspective ▼“Technovation Girls 2024 Japan Official Pitch Event” Highlight Video [Technovation Girls Japan 2024] Japan Official Pitch Event_Highlight Video ▼“Technovation Girls 2024 Japan Official Pitch Event” video (full length) [Technovation Girls 2024] Japan Official Pitch Event ▼“Technovation Girls Japan Region 2024” report
https://waffle-waffle.org/2024/09/24/tg2024_report/ ▼Notice of recruitment of sponsor companies Waffle is looking for corporate sponsors to support this event and participating teams from all over the country. If your company is interested, please contact
tg-japan@waffle-waffle.org. Specified non-profit organization Waffle A non-profit organization that aims to eliminate the gender gap in the IT field and provides a place to learn programming for free to middle school, high school, university, and graduate school students whose gender identity is female or non-binary. We offer “Waffle Camp,” a free website creation course for junior high and high school students, and “Waffle College,” a free programming training course for university and graduate students. In addition, we support
participation in the international app development contest
“Technovation Girls” in Japan, hold various events in collaboration with companies, and promote policies such as the “Basic Policy for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform (commonly known as the Basic Policy)”. We are actively making recommendations. In 2020, won the 4th Japan SDGs Award “SDGs Partnership Award”. Her main publications include “Me x IT = The Strongest Theory: A Guidebook for Women and Gender Minorities to Succeed in IT (Little More Publishing)”. https://waffle-waffle.org (*) U.S. “Technovation Girls 2025” –decoration:underline;color:#666;word-break:break-all;”
target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow ugc noopener”> Recruitment requirements In line with this, the program is aimed at transgender people who are interested in “Technovation Girls,” as well as those who identify as nonbinary or gender nonconforming and want to study in a
female-oriented environment.