A team made up of TecnoCampus students has participated this year in the Major Impact Innovation contest, organized by the Universidad Mayor de Chile. Both entities are members of the International Network of Entrepreneurial Universities. It is an international contest aimed at university students from Spain and Latin America, whose objective is to develop innovative solutions to the challenges generated by the pandemic within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Prizes have a total prize pool of $5,000.
The TecnoCampus presented a group of students from the Polytechnic Higher School led by Professor Jaume Teodoro to the last edition of the contest. The group was made up of five industrial engineering and computer engineering students: Aina Barnet, Erick Mejía, Hamza Chouli, Joan Gabarró and Aitor Juanola. This group developed the Kiribati project, the first virtual currency that encourages ordinary people to act for the SDGs and provides rewards for doing so.
As explained by Teodoro, the contest "promotes students to solve a social challenge, for which they must promote an entrepreneurial initiative that has the potential to move forward." The design of the initiative had to be developed in three phases. First, an investigation of the problem to be solved. Next, a conceptualization process of a solution with its business model. Finally, the solution must be validated on a small scale in the market.
The initiative took place over two months. In this edition, held at the beginning of the year, the pandemic forced the contest to be held remotely, so the sessions were held online. "The time difference with Chile made work difficult and forced you to work at night," says Aitor Juanola.
The project presented by the TecnoCampus group had the name of Kiribatís, and consists of a virtual currency that is mined from the effort that each person makes to contribute to the fight against climate change. Specifically, the project proposed a kind of global points program that allows you to obtain rewards.
Thus, for example, taking public transport or buying in socially responsible stores provide these points that can be translated into these virtual currencies. "The idea is to encourage people who are not yet aware of climate change, with incentives so that they do something in favor of the SDGs and this effort is valued," explains Juanola.
Kiribati's name comes from a small republic located in the South Pacific, which also has the privilege of being called the Millennium Island for being the first country where the sun rises. However, it could disappear flooded by rising sea levels and as a result of climate change.
The idea of the students in baptizing the project with this name is to raise awareness of the importance of acting so as not to lose Kiribati. A will that is also expressed through the SDGs promoted by the UN.
As Teodoro explains, “the team was among the finalists, but did not receive the final prize. However, the experience was fabulous and the students learned to work through Design Thinking to end up proposing an initiative that who knows if one day it will take shape”. Aitor Juanola agrees in his assessment: “it has been a very positive experience, which allows you to meet more people from the university and to work in a group”.
