IdeiAçores 2020 Competition confirms great entrepreneurial potential of young Azoreans, says Regional Director for Youth
The Regional Director for Youth stated that the IdeiAçores 2020 Competition “confirms the great entrepreneurial potential of young Azoreans.”
Lúcio Rodrigues spoke Wednesday at the opening session of this year's edition of the initiative, which took place, for the first time, online, following the pandemic of COVID-19. On the occasion, he greeted the more than 2,000 young Azoreans from 41 schools throughout the archipelago, who participated this year in the "Entrepreneurial Education: The Way to Success" project, emphasising the “commitment of the young people and teachers involved, especially in the conditions under which they had to work this school year.”
“Our young people and our teachers have demonstrated, once again, their resilience and innovation. Despite the moment we are going through, they did not limit themselves to crossing their arms and giving up the work, but they rather rolled up their sleeves and made it happen, reinventing methodologies and even reinventing themselves,” said the government official.
The Regional Director also highlighted “the conditions under which young people and teachers had to work, often reconciling their work with their family life and sharing spaces. These are not the best conditions for carrying a type of work that requires concentration, as is the case of projects in the area of entrepreneurship."
Lúcio Rodrigues considered that "we will emerge stronger from this pandemic crisis, more qualified and even more entrepreneurial," which "turns out to be the transformation of a negative situation into a new reality that can be highly positive."
At the session, held by video conference and which is available on the Facebook page of the Regional Directorate for Youth at https://www.facebook.com/DRJ Jovens/, the Evaluation Committee announced the winners among the 24 best previously selected projects.
The winning project in the middle school level "Discover Azores" by Leonor Bairos, from Colégio de São Francisco Xavier (São Miguel Island), while the "S (ee) and S (ave)" project by Beatriz Costa and Margarida Araújo, from Tomás de Borba Basic Education and Secondary School (Terceira Island) was the winner in the junior high school level.
In secondary education, the victory fell to the Camila Cota and João Costa, from Vitorino Nemésio Secondary School (Terceira Island) with the "Mysterĭum" project.
In turn, the most voted project in vocational education was the "Island Secret's" project developed by Bianca Alves and Luísa Cordeniz, from Jerónimo Emiliano de Andrade Secondary School (Terceira Island).
The best projects received technological prizes, including Bluetooth speakers, smartphones and computer accessories.