More than 250 young university women seek innovative solutions to six social challenges in El Salvador during the Innovate UES Challenge Hackathon

A Valencian delegation visits the University of El Salvador (UES) to check the progress of this Valencian cooperation project that has trained 75 people in entrepreneurship and social innovation

The president of Jovesólides and the academic vice-chancellor of UES inaugurate the facilities of the Center for the Promotion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in El Salvador

Six real social challenges to be solved. Two working days. Twenty-two teams in competition. A professional jury, 25 mentorships, 40 volunteers and dozens of boiling creative ideas. The Challenge Hackaton of Innovate UES, a technical cooperation project promoted by Jovesólides, brought together more than 250 people in an exciting competition held at the University of El Salvador.

They were presented with six real problem situations in Salvadoran society related to mobility, climate emergency, sustainability of metropolitan public spaces, rural digital divide, strengthening the community fabric and technical training in agricultural environments. On this basis, the teams were challenged to generate an innovative, creative, economically feasible and viable solution from a social, environmental and technical point of view. As a result, six social innovation and entrepreneurship projects have been chosen as winners and will receive the necessary support to develop their proposals.

SOCIAL INNOVATION CATEGORY

1st EMPODERÁNDONOS
2nd INCRADIS
3th ENREDAVOCES

CATEGORY ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1st MASVERDE
2nd AGROTECH
1th A LA U

Social innovation, a driver of employment in El Salvador

Social innovation has proved to be a powerful ally in the fight against youth unemployment and exclusion in El Salvador, a country with high poverty rates. The Innovate UES project, developed by Jovesólides with funds from the Valencian cooperation and the collaboration of the Ideas Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, has completed the training of 75 students, teachers and technical staff of the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the University of El Salvador (UES), the only public university in the country.

The students of the 'Diploma in social innovation with a gender approach' graduated coinciding with the visit to the country of a Valencian delegation to whom they had the opportunity to present the methodologies they have created within the project.

In order to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem with a social approach in El Salvador, a specialized space has been set up at the Center for the Promotion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CEFIE UES) that will promote the development and consolidation of innovative projects in the country.

INNOVATE UES is a technical cooperation project funded by Vicepresidencia Segunda y Conselleria de Servicios Sociales, Igualdad y Vivienda promoted by Jovesólides with the collaboration of the IDEAS Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. If you want to know all the news and activities of this project, follow the hashtag #InnovateUES on social networks.