Contest encourages children from Bogotá to create apps

By September 13, 2017

Until September 30th, teams of three to five members – each comprising of students and one school teacher – will have the opportunity to take part in the Crea la app de los jóvenes colombianos (Create the app of Colombian youth) contest.

The contest aims to ignite creativity within the youth of Bogotá, pushing them to propose ideas of entrepreneurship while opening them up to the world of technology.

A number of organizations and companies have united to bring this competition to life, including the software industry guild, Fedesoft, The Catholic University of Colombia, the Colombian startup Platzi, the mayoralty of Bogotá and the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication.

Once students develop an idea, they will then have access to the basic programming courses offered by Platzi and two months to develop their proposal in a web application that has an social impact. There are also prizes for the winners with 3 scholarships at the Grancolombiano Polytechnic University up for grabs.

Platzi is a tech company which teaches courses on design, marketing and programming with a 70% completion rate, to over 80,000 students worldwide. It aims to be the professional home for lifelong learning of advanced skills.

Due to a deficit of professionals within the Technology Industry in Colombia, programs like this are advantageous for the country, promoting programming, development of digital tools and technology as a whole among young people.