A competition that seeks to identify and support the initiatives of citizens who want to transform the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 30 finalists presented their projects before a jury with expertise in each thematic, of which Francisco Santolo, our founder and CEO, was summoned by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation to be part.
The third edition of the competition that seeks to identify and support citizen’s initiatives to transform the City came to an end
22 December, 2016.
With 2,300 proposals, on 16 December the third edition of Vos Lo Hacés (You Do It), a competition for entrepreneurs which seeks to empower and commend innovative ideas that create social, environmental or cultural impact in the City. A jury of experts selected the winners, who received scholarships for entrepreneurship and $100,000, $60,000 and $30,000 in prizes for the first, second and third positions.
Daniel Fernández and his team took the first prize in the Social Impact category with their Buenos Makers Social Club, an initiative which seeks to develop accessible robotics for people with motor disabilities. Sonido 20, the associative audiovisual producer that Diego Centurión and his team built alongside 25 families from Villa 20 (Villa Lugano), won the Social Impact category. Also, Samanta Barreiro, a neighbor of Villa Soldati, was awarded in the Environmental Impact category for Manos en la Huerta, and idea which seeks to create vertical gardens and teach how to make seedlings at home for sale.
The finals took place at the Centro Metropolitano de Diseño (CMD), where the city’s authorities took part such as the Minister of Modernization, Innovation and Technology, Andy Freire, the Minister of Human Development and Habitat, GuadalupeTagliaferri, the General Director of Entrepreneurs Santiago Sena and the Secretary of Social and Urban Integration, Diego Fernández.
“All of us who put together this contest are very proud that so many people have given us their ideas to change the City. We know the capacity and the creativity of our citizens, and we’re working to empower them. This is our objective,” said Minister Freire.
The 30 finalists presented their projects before a jury with expertise in each thematic. Héctor ‘Toty’ Flores, founder of the Cooperativa La Juanita; Daniela Kreimer, Director of Ashoka Argentina and Brenda Sciepura, Social Innovation Manager for the Greater City of Buenos Aires, where in charge of the Social Impact category. On the cultural side, the jury included Diego Pimentel, Director of the Centro Cultural San Martín; Martín Parlato, founder of Posibl and Francisco Santolo, Director of Scalabl, a Startup Accelerator. Lastly, Lorena Núñez, founder of Tote Bags; Ximena Alfaro, founder of Puro Verde, and Jacques Chauvin, Entrepreneur’s Financial Coordinator for the City of Buenos Aires, selected the winners of the Environmental Impact category.
Winning Projects – Social Impact Category
1° - Buenos Makers Social Club / Daniel Fernandez and team
Just in the City of Buenos Aires there’s at least one person per block with a motor disability. Buenos Makers Social Club seeks to give them back their independence and mobility so that they too can study and work. So, they develop accessible robotics and have already made a robotic arm.
2° - Moda para ayudar (Fashion to help) / Juan Zenklusen, Marcos Herrera, David Speier and Alex Nobis
Danke is a clothing brand that believes education is the best form of growth. This is why they sale t-shirts with designs drawn by children from impoverished areas and, for every t-shirt sold, they donate a school kit with the end of evening opportunities.
3° Cocinando Latinoamérica (Cooking LatinAmerica) / Ángel Fernández and Natalia Rojas
A couple of chefs from villa 1-11-14 seek to create a healthy fast-food joint in the neighborhood, train young people and impose a brand into the market that offers a different type of food. For the future, they hope their healthy fast-food chain will be in every villa.
Winning Projects – Cultural Impact category
1° - Sonido 20 / Diego Centurión and team
The project’s intent is to set up an associative audiovisual production company with 25 families at Villa 20, at Lugano.
2° - Viaj-AR (Travel) / Gina Hidalgo
Viaj-AR is a cultural tourist guide that doesn’t leave you alone when you want to get lost in the city. Downloading the free app and paying for the various destination packages, the travelers will be able to experience the city without the need of internet, oriented by GPS and augmented reality to locate the places of interests and the emblematic landmarks reviewed and supported by additional information in multimedia formats.
3° Puentes de Papel (Paper Bridges) / Marcelo Debiaggi
Puentes de Papel seeks to bring together reading and children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia through a collection of books adapted to their needs. Only through reading will children be able to develop their own reading technics and strategies that will be vital for them in high school and college.
Winning Projects – Environmental Impact category
1° Manos en la Huerta (Hands in the orchard) / Samanta Barreiro
Manos en la Huerta seeks to create vertical gardens and teach how to make seedlings at home for sale.
2° - Geneol / Martín Mongiello and team
From conventional wind-extractors, they create renewable energy used for lighting or the supplying, depending the installed capacity, of 220 volts of electricity for whichever use.
3° - Mushi – The food of the future / TomásSciolla and Juana Serra
Seeks to introduce and make known in the country the nutritional and environmental benefits of including certain insects in our diets. They created a sustainable process through which they can obtain flour from crickets, eliminating any visual impact.
