More than 70 young people from Basic to Higher Education present innovative ideas at i9.Açores - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

More than 70 young people began today their participation in the i9.Açores - Young Academy of Innovative Ideas, organised by the Regional Secretariat for Youth, Housing and Employment, through the Regional Directorate for Youth, which runs until Thursday at the Ramo Grande Auditorium in Praia da Vitória, Terceira island.

Overall, more than 40 business ideas from students ranging from middle school to secondary education, also including vocational and higher education, are competing in the 4th edition of i9.Açores. It covers areas such as agriculture, tourism, gastronomy, new technologies and artificial intelligence, social solidarity, and even health and well-being.

The proposals follow the work carried out during this year's edition of the Entrepreneurial Academy, which involved about 2,000 students from all levels of education and all islands, 34 schools, four social organisations, 50 teachers and 12 technicians.

At the opening session of i9.Açores, the Regional Secretary for Youth, Housing and Employment praised the "quality of the proposals" and the "responsibility of young people," as each proposal is aligned with, at least, one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the four editions, about 6,000 young people have taken part in the Entrepreneurial Academy.

Maria João Carreiro explained that this programme created by the PSD/CDS/PPM coalition "highlights the human potential that exists in the Azores." It contributes to "building a confident and active attitude among young people in society" while providing them with "skills that are essential for establishing an entrepreneurial profile."

According to the government official, Praia da Vitória will be this week the"place of excellence for celebrating talent, creativity, dreams, audacity, ambition, competitive spirit, and identifying professional skills and talents."

During i9.Açores, participants will present their products to the community at the i9.Açores Fair, held at the Youth Academy on Terceira Island, and benefit from mentoring and pitch training with the judges.

This year, the i9.Açores jury includes Eunice Melo, entrepreneur; Avelino Ormonde, founder of Biofontinhas; Joana Saavedra, co-founder of Bambu bicycles; Duarte Pimentel, executive director of TERINOV - Terceira Island Science and Technology Park; and Ricardo Reis, publicist, director and co-founder of Hunt Global.

The 1st place winners in each of the competition categories will participate in an entrepreneurship mission to Barcelona, as did the winners of the previous three editions, who visited entrepreneurial ecosystems in Madrid, Lisbon and Coimbra or Aveiro, Porto and Braga.

The regional public investment in this edition of the Entrepreneurial Academy and i9.Açores amounts to 150 thousand Euros.

The Regional Secretary reiterated that the Region "needs critical thinking and the ability of young people to understand and take action in a time, such as the one we are living in, of various challenges."

She challenged participants to live this experience "in the best possible way, create memories for life and leave this competition with the same motivation and winning spirit with which they came to i9.Açores."

Among other guests, the Mayor of Praia da Vitória, Vânia Ferreira, and the Regional Director for Youth, Eládio Braga, participated in the opening and visit to the i9.Açores Fair.