100 Students From Across The Island Participated In The 6th Annual Junior Achievement Cyprus Innovation Camp
For the sixth consecutive year, Junior Achievement Cyprus hosted the EEPA National Award-Winning Innovation Camp, on Friday, 8 November 2019 at Poed Premises, Nicosia. The Innovation Camp “Entrepreneurship Connects” encouraged students to use their skills in enterprising and innovative ways, fostering their employability and entrepreneurial flair in the process.
The participants were made up of 100 students coming from both Greek-Cypriot and Turkish- Cypriot backgrounds, aged between 15 and 18, from private high schools from all over Cyprus, accompanied by their teachers. In groups of 4-5 persons, students had the chance to come together and cooperate in suggesting an innovative idea towards a business challenge that was given on their arrival. The participants were asked to develop an innovative product, service or solution, to meet the needs of a vulnerable group of the society, namely, the elderly people. According to statistics, the average age of the world’s inhabitants is rising as health systems around the world have brought longevity to humans. The elderly, therefore, now make up 1/5 of the total population of the earth.
Students had only a few hours to cooperate with other students they had not met before and to collectively shape their ideas, in order to propose an innovative product, service or solution that could be applied to the case of the elderly people in Cyprus. At the end of the day, all teams presented their solutions to a panel of successful and experienced entrepreneurs. The presentations and jury questions that followed were in English.
The winners of the sixth Bi-Communal Innovation Camp are:
1st place: “Association of the Youthful Elderly” – The Association of the Elderly Youth is an innovative organisation that aims to help individuals who are retired or are transitioning into retirement and their new lifestyle, while ensuring that they are kept healthy and entertained. The Organisation will serve both the elderly and the youth in a win-win situation. The team consisted of Simay Sahin (Levent College), Ilayda Ozmerter (English School of Kerynia), Eleni Andronicou (The Junior and Senior School), Christopher Clarius (Necat British College), and Jack Givhan (IMS Private School).
2nd place: “Oh! Live Healthy” – The company will promote olive tree leaves tea to help the elderly part of 1/3 of the island suffering from diabetes.The team consisted Meril Sonakin (Levent College), Doga Soydemir (English School of Kerynia), Rafaella Socratous (Heritage Private School) and Michalis Nicolaou (American Academy Larnaca).
3rd place: “Aceso” – An artificial intelligence device that detects depression disorders of elderly people and suggests treatment from community psychologists.The team consisted of Ariadne Panayiotou Ioannou (The Junior and Senior School), Ahmet Binatlioglu (English School of Kerynia), Aysu Ozturk (Necat British College), Louis Alexandre (TLC Private School) and Kyriacos Ioannou (American Academy Nicosia).
Prizes
The winning team will travel abroad, possibly to the USA, to attend an entrepreneurship bootcamp this coming summer. The prizes for the 2nd and 3rd place were kindly provided by CYTA, the leading provider of integrated electronic communication services in Cyprus. CYTA is a Partner of JA Cyprus since 2014 and supports the youth in entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives.
The event was supported by the United States Embassy in Nicosia.
JA Cyprus (www.jacyprus.org) is a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, a global non-profit organization specialized in youth entrepreneurship education, that aims in equipping young people with entrepreneurial, financial literacy and work readiness skills.
For more information visit the JA Cyprus website (www.jacyprus.org) or contact Emily Sotiriou on 97-715909 or via email at emily.sotiriou@jacyprus.org
