Technovation Girls

Technovation Girls Waterloo logo

speaker teaching at a workshop

Be part of the change! Technovation Girls equips youth (female, non-binary and trans) ages 10-18 with the skills to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders. With the support of volunteer mentors, students work in teams to code mobile apps that address real-world problems they've identified.

Find out more about the Technovation Girls Waterloo program.

Waterloo chapter

Technovation Girls Waterloo logo

Women in Computer Science Outreach oversees the Waterloo chapter of Technovation Girls. The chapter includes students from Cambridge, Guelph, Kitchener, Stratford and Waterloo and their surrounding townships:

For more details, please download the Technovation Girls Overview Presentation (~1.4 MB PowerPoint presentation).

Registration

Please note for registration students will need to provide the email of a parent and obtain parental consent for registration to be complete. You may participate in the program while awaiting consent, but it needs to be done by the deadline.

Please note that you must be at least 18 years old in order to complete this registration process. If you are not 18 years old, please ask your parent or legal guardian to complete this process.

Registrants will have access to the online curriculum, put together by Technovation Girls, that students will work through over the course of the program.

Under the authority of the University of Waterloo Act (1972), the University of Waterloo gathers and maintains information used for the purposes of admission, registration, and other fundamental activities related to being a member of the University community and to participating in programs organized by a public post-secondary institution in the province of Ontario, Canada. The University of Waterloo is committed to respecting the privacy and the personal information requested on this form, or requested during, or in connection with, your participation in Technovation Girls Waterloo, is collected in accordance with Sections 38(2), 41(1), 42 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F. 31 as amended, as well as in compliance with our University’s policies and guidelines. If you have any questions regarding the collection of information associated with this form or Technovation Girls Waterloo, please contact Rae Samuel at technovation@uwaterloo.ca.

Workshops

You must register separately for each Technovation Girls Waterloo event that you want to attend.

You are not required to attend workshops, it is, however, highly recommended as it will provide teams greater support in preparing for the Technovation Challenge. The workshops will also allow teams to meet other participants who are interested in technology and meet mentors and role models.

Workshop listings will be updated as we get closer to the beginning of the 2020/2021 season.

Get involved

Technovation Girls Waterloo is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers and community partners. Join us by getting involved in Technovation Girls.

Become a volunteer

Technovation Girls need many volunteers to make things happen (all folks welcome). People like you!

Role	Description	Time commitment
Mentor	As a mentor, your primary role is to be a project manager for your team. Helping your team: Keep on-track; Meet deadlines; Find solutions to problems; Designate work responsibilities. The three facets of a mentor are someone who helps with: project management, time management and, creating focus for the team. You don’t have to be an expert, but able to help the girls find solutions to their problems. Technical and non-technical mentors welcome.	~ 2-3 hours a week
Coach	Coaches provide feedback to teams in a one-on-one setting at designated workshops. These are folks who are interested in supporting the program but have less free time in their calendars.	2-4 hours a month
Speaker	Refining existing content or creating your own you can teach at organised workshops. A subject matter expert on the topic for which they’re speaking on.	~2-3 hours per session
Judge	Judges review submissions from teams, offer feedback and encourage teams to keep building. This helps strengthen team pitches for the global competition.	30 minutes for training on evaluating submissions + ~3 hours for reviewing submissions.

Become a community partner

Technovation Girls is funded through support from local companies. The partnership varies between companies and will look a little different in the 2020-2021 season. Partners can:

Host a workshop, which includes providing an instructor and some coaches. Multiple companies can host together.
Engage staff to be mentors to work with teams.
Provide laptops (ones near retirement are welcome) for students who don't have access to a machine for the season.
Pay for internet packages for students who need access to the internet during the season.
Fund T-shirts for the girls and other swag.
Offer prizes. Consider experiences for the girls, like tours of local companies, automatic acceptance into a youth developer program, or a summer internship. We’re open to ideas!

Spread the word

You can help Technovation Girls by spreading the word throughout the community! Spread the word within your place of work with colleagues and to parents.

If you are interested in getting involved, please reach out to the Chapter Ambassador at technovation@uwaterloo.ca.

Regional Pitch Event

At the conclusion of each season, teams pitch their apps to a panel of judges. The judges will provide feedback and score the teams based on pre-determined criteria; top scoring teams are able to move on to become semi-finalists. Semi-finalists have their submissions reviewed once again to select a team to move on to the Global Pitch Event.

Find out more about the judging process.

Our 2020 Live Event had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. In place, we partnered with the other chapters in Canada and hosted an online celebration event!

The results from first round of judging are in. Take a look at the semi-finalists from the 2020 season.

For questions about registration, submissions, the curriculum and the program please read the Technovation Challenge FAQ.

Our community partners

With thanks and gratitude to our community partners for their support and sponsorship!

community partners_2021

CodeGirl

CodeGirl is a documentary from 2015 about the Technovation Challenge. It tells the story of a number of high school aged girls from around the world as they try to better their community through technology and collaboration in a thrilling, heartfelt documentary.

Watch video on YouTube

Go to codegirlmovie.com to find out how you can rent or buy the documentary.