Beeline Reader
- The TPrize Challenge is seeking ideas from around the world to ensure that disadvantaged communities can design and participate in skills-based and lifelong learning opportunities.
- Up to USD $100,000 in prize funding is available, as well as follow-on support provided by TecPrize for 5 winners.
- Applicants will respond to the need for alternative learning models, equitable access to training programs, and high-capacity educators across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Monterrey, Mexico, 18 December 2019—Tecnológico de Monterrey and La Universidad de los Andes have launched their first international joint competition designed to crowdsource solutions to bridge the skills gap in Latin America and the Caribbean. With 50% of formal Latin American firms claiming they cannot find local candidates with the skills they need, it is imperative to address the lack of accessible, affordable, high quality, and effective learning opportunities.
The TPrize Challenge invites applicants already working in or those who plan to expand their solution to the Latin America and Caribbean region to pitch innovative ideas that will support disadvantaged communities to prosper in the 21st century. The challenge calls for tech-enabled innovations that can be applied to close the skills gap and promote lifelong learning opportunities across the region.
The “T” in TPrize Challenge references transformation – and that is just what Tecnológico de Monterrey and La Universidad de los Andes hope for as an outcome of this Challenge.
“The TPrize Challenge is a seed that can change the way we solve the great problems we have in the world,” said Salvador Alva, President of Tecnológico de Monterrey.
TPrize is now accepting solutions through March 31 2020. There is USD 100,000 in prize funding available to finalists and winners. Additionally, 5 winners of the Challenge will be provided with follow-on support by TPrize, including mentorship, incubation and acceleration, IP registration, capacity building, and connection with experts.
“As technology changes the way we work, it must also change the way we learn in order to address the very real challenge of the widening skills gap in the world,” said Matthew Minor, Director, International Programs at MIT Solve. “Latin America and the Caribbean is especially facing the realities of this shift, however this region holds tremendous potential in helping solve this challenge globally. As innovation leaders in higher education across Latin America, Tecnológico de Monterrey and La Universidad de los Andes are well placed to lead efforts to close the skills gap – and TPrize powered by MIT Solve will help identify the most promising innovations to do so. MIT Solve is proud to be working alongside these universities to launch this innovation challenge.”
The Universidad de los Andes is an autonomous and innovative institution, which provides critical and ethical training from the respect of ideas and excellence. Through educational experiences, Tec de Monterrey trains people who become agents of change; people who are responsible for their own lives, aware that their actions can support the transformation of others. In the Tec21 education model, undergraduate learning is focused on real problems and developing disciplinary and transversal skills.
The competition is open to applicants from all sectors. Those with a solution are invited to apply through the TPrize Challenge website through March 31, 2020.