7TH ANNUAL JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS INNOVATION CAMP ‘ADJUST’ – Students suggest solutions for digital education
For the seventh consecutive year, Junior Achievement Cyprus hosted the Innovation Camp, on Thursday, 10 December 2020. The one-day Innovation Camp “Adjust” encouraged students to use their skills in enterprising and innovative ways, fostering their employability and entrepreneurial flair in the process. The whole process run virtually developing also the students’ digital skills.
The participants were made up from both Greek-Cypriot and Turkish- Cypriot backgrounds, aged between 15 and 18, from private high schools from all over Cyprus. Students had the opportunity to come together in groups of 5-6 people and collaborate in order to suggest an innovative idea towards a business challenge that was given on their arrival at the virtual room. The participants were asked to develop an innovative product, service or solution to meet the needs of shifting to the digital era of education, supporting the teachers, students, parents, educational authorities or others in the educational context of Cyprus.
Students had only a few hours to virtually collaborate with other students they had not met before and to collectively shape their ideas. At the end of the day, all teams presented their solutions to a panel of successful and experienced entrepreneurs.
The winners of the seventh Bi-Communal Innovation Camp are:
1st place: XPFH Experiences from home –an online solution for the thrill of field trips. This is an instant solution to the lack of culture being spread. This website allows people to attend the same touring with many others at the same time as it tackles the social distancing issue as well. It also allows the opportunity to visit places without having to pay for transportation.
The team consisted of ECE ÇAKMAK (Levent College), Gabriel Perrott (The English School of Kyrenia), Anna Vardar (Necat British College), Ioannikios Hadjiyinnis (American Academy Larnaca), Kristin Dikaios (The Junior and Senior school).
2nd place: Busy Bear – The company proposed an Artificial Intelligence-based screen-restriction programme, where students would be redirected to their virtual classrooms where they are free from the distraction a tablet has to offer.
The team consisted of Anel Dudkina (The English School of Kyrenia), Ksenia Kostina (Necat British College), Vlada Ippolitova (IMS Private School), Christopher Luizinho (International School of Paphos), Ege Ergün Şevket (The English School of Kyrenia).
3rd place: INOVACE – proposed a rewarding system using cryptocurrency technology in order to teach students the importance and value of being responsible towards their education.
The team consisted of Serin Kayserilioğlu (The English School of Kyrenia), Arian Adeli Koodehi (International School of Paphos), Fikret Polar (Necat British College), Marko Angelo Spyrou (IMS Private School), Çezara Şenova (The English School of Kyrenia).
Prizes
The winning team will travel to the USA to attend an entrepreneurship bootcamp this coming summer. The winning team’s award is kindly sponsored by the US Embassy. The awards 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.
The organisation is supported by:
Strategic Partner: Astrobank
Partners: PwC Cyprus, CYTA, MetLife
Supporters: University of Nicosia
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
