About « Iridescent

The Technovation Challenge is a program of Iridescent, a 501c3 non-profit which provides STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education for underserved and underrepresented youth.

The Technovation Challenge program was founded in 2009 by Anuranjita Tewary, who was inspired by Startup Weekend. After this life-changing experience, she realized she wanted to offer young women the opportunity to participate in a “start-up company” and understand what it takes to be a high-tech entrepreneur. The pilot program was run in the spring of 2010, with the help of Rose Zhong and Margaret Butler, with 45 girls and 25 mentors from all over Silicon Valley. The Technovation Challenge has now expanded to New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mountain View and Berkeley, CA. View our 2011 programs here.

The mission of the Technovation Challenge is to promote women in technology by giving girls the skills and confidence they need to be successful in computer science and entrepreneurship. We aim to inspire girls to see themselves not just as users of technology, but as inventors, designers, builders and entrepreneurs.

In our course, students design a mobile phone app prototype using the Google App Inventor for Android. They work with a small team of girls, each team supported by a professional high-tech female mentor and an undergraduate computer science student (all female). The girls learn to think like entrepreneurs, generate innovative ideas, and write business plans. Our courses are hosted by high-tech companies, so girls are able to experience what it’s like to work and learn in a high-tech environment.

The course culminates in a high-visibility “Pitch Night” where girls present their plans to a panel of venture capitalists and industry leaders. These judges select a winning team from each region, and the finalists are flown to the SF Bay Area to compete at a National Pitch Night in April. The grand prize from the National Pitch Night is professional development of the winning app and distribution on the Google Marketplace.

Our Impact

Before Participating:

61% of students had little or no experience programming experience
89% of participants had never been mentored by a female scientist or engineer prior to the program.

After Participating:

66% of girls reported they would be interested in a career in computer science or engineering
67% of students felt confident that they could achieve a career in business or entrepreneurship
78% of participants feel confident that they could be part of a team which starts a high tech company in the future

Our Students

Technovation Challenge students come from a wide range of demographics. Part of our mission is to bring girls from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds together, so that they can work with and learn from students outside of their school and neighborhood, whom they may not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with. We serve students from public, private and independent schools and students from families with a wide spectrum of income levels.

Student Demographics:

The 2011 Technovation Challenge program awarded financial aid to 53% of participants, and in some regions the vast majority of our students (80% or more) receive it. Student on financial aid only need to pay $15 to participate in the entire program.
Most Technovation Challenge students attend public schools, and 44% attend “high need” schools– where over 50% of students qualify for federally funded free or reduced lunch.
Our goal for the 2012 program is to serve 80% underrepresented minority students (primarily African American and Latina) who have limited resources and access to technology.