"When faced with adversity there are two options: grow or die," Colombian writer, poet and engineer Jorge González Moore once said. His words are used today to recognize the achievements of five young Peruvians that the MIT Technology Review Spanish edition, published by Opinno, has selected during the second round of Innovators Under 35 held in the country. These five young people have used the technology to grow and stand up to some of the adversities that threaten the country.
The list of winners is the result of the jury’s selection of this regional competition, conducted among more than 100 candidates. The names of the winners are those who have managed to think differently to solve the real problems of their society. Being the solution your country needs and settling into the most prestigious and world-renowned technology community is the main objective of their efforts.
The battles that these three women and two men faced addressed such diverse areas as e-commerce, developing new medical treatments, vaccines, expanding sanitation systems and weather forecasting for agriculture. None of them are older than thirty and are already facing major social problems.
The awards this year have been particularly female, as three of them were awarded to women. Two of them also have managed to gain the special mentions that are included in the ceremony.
Isabel Medem, 29, is the founder of X-runner, a company that sells and installs bathrooms for families without sewers as well as collecting their weekly waste. Medem has been awarded the title of Social Innovator in this call, for her project that tries to reduce this alarming statistic: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2,400 million people in the world lack a safe and hygienic system that eliminates their feces.
The other special mention of this call, Innovator of the Year, went to the 27-year old Karen Torrejón. The researcher has been awarded for her fight against glaucoma. This disease causes irreversible blindness for 2% of the 285 million people with visual disability in the world according to WHO. Her company Glauconix recreates the physiological processes of the eye to test new drugs against blindness. With the artificial fabrics that have been created, it is possible to find alternatives in order to avoid developing the disease.
The five winners received their awards on Saturday the 29th of November as part of Startup Day in Limavalley in the Telefónica Auditorium in Lima (Peru). The celebration of this event includes the presentation of each project to the audience, connecting these young people with the most renowned experts and specialists from the world of technology and innovation, who usually attend the event.
Support in the release of these great minds is the main objective of these awards and one of the pillars of the philosophy of Opinno. Since 2010, the company disseminates this goal through the regional editions of Innovators under 35 that are celebrated worldwide.
In Latin America and over 130 young people have been recognized by the awards, which seek to provide solutions to the problems plaguing society. This new generation is already part of the largest global community of young leaders on the technological forefront, always through the support of Opinno and the MIT Technology Review Spanish edition, be the change you want to see in the world.
