Ashoka’s Youth Venture, a global organization supporting youth social entrepreneurs, and Best Buy Co., Inc. announced today the five winners of the Technology for a Better World Campaign.  They will be recognized at the prestigious Jefferson Awards in Washington D.C. for their innovative contributions to public and community service and will spend a day at Ashoka’s headquarters learning how to further expand their local ventures.

The five winners of the campaign are:

InvenTech Enterprises-Griffin Latulippe, 17, Wethersfield, CT.  InvenTech Enterprises is a social purpose business founded by 10 high school students inspired, in part, by Griffin’s experience with muscular dystrophy.  The team creates assistive technology devices for people with disabilities, filling an important gap often missed by large medical devise firms due to the small market niche and low profit potential.  The team has been recognized nationally by the Junior Engineering Technical Society for their wheelchair storage solution and adjustable walker.  Griffin is committed to building a future where all people, including those with disabilities, have the independence and ability to contribute to a changing world.  

Jamii Capital-Joyce Yan, 16, Cupertino, CA.  Dynamic duo Joyce and Crystal Yan have set their sights on developing data analysis mobile application tools to support aid agencies in gathering valuable feedback from communities.  Dismayed that so little progress has been made in transforming developing countries, the sisters are committed to tapping into their vast and varied experiences including winning a mobile application development pitch competition, co-founding the Social Startup Summit for high school students, serving on a team that led 6000 students to raise over $160,000 for water filters, and co-producing What’s Next: 25 Big Ideas from Gen-Yers Under 25, a collaborative book project on the power of youth.

Oink­-A-Saurus-Fabian Fernandez-Han, 13, Conroe, TX.  The Great Recession and housing crisis deepened Fabian’s understanding of the importance of financial literacy and compelled him to take action to educate his peers.  An avid saver and investor with a 14 percent return during the recession, he makes finance fun and accessible for youth through technology. Oink-A-Saurus is an iPhone/iPad/iPod application and interactive website, where students learn investing by building a ‘porkfolio,’ and setting financial goals through ‘piggy banks.”  Fabian was recognized by the New York Stock Exchange’s Financial Future Challenge for his innovative work.

GreenShields-Jonny Cohen, 15, Highland Park, IL. Alarmed by the low gas mileage of school buses, Jonny began developing GreenShields, a polycarbonate shield that attaches to the front of school buses to make them more aerodynamic. Although he is in 10th grade, Jonny spends most of his time designing and testing prototypes with the help of his interns from Northwestern University Engineering department and early tests show significant gas savings.  The team won the Illinois Governor’s Green Youth Award and received a donated school bus from Cook-Illinois Bus Company so the team could conduct ongoing tests of GreenShields.

TEDxHomer Teens-McKenzy Haber, 14, Homer, AK. McKenzy and his team of youth are passionate about wild places, animals, food justices, conversation and sustainability and have won many awards for their efforts.  However, these young changemakers wanted a way to connect globally with other young environmentalists and policy leaders to broaden their impact and exchange ideas. The team took advantage of technology and new online platforms to organize a TEDx event for 140 Alaskans and streamed to 1,800 people globally on the topic of environmental sustainability.  The experience was transformative for the youth involved and they’ve committed to supporting more teens in using the TEDx format to share their ideas and bring about positive social change.

“These teams exemplify that youth view technology not only as a means of entertainment, but as a tool that can be harnessed for a wide-reaching, positive impact on their communities and even on the world” said Gretchen Zucker, Executive Director of Youth Venture. “Hopefully the work these young changemakers are doing will inspire other youth to tackle social problems in their own communities.”

This nation-wide campaign drew entries nationwide via Facebook and a network of partners including the Jefferson Awards and Engineering for Change (E4C).  The youth-led teams were judged based on their impact on a well-defined social issue and on the innovative use of technology, among other criteria.  Ashoka’s Youth Venture invited an influential panel of judges that included Christine Webster Moore, Vice President, Strategy and Networking New Business Customer Solutions Group, Best Buy; Lisa H. Neuberger-Fernandez, Director of Corporate Citizenship Programs, Accenture; Alexander Lin, Youth Venturer, Project TGIF – Turn Grease Into Fuel; Jane Kim, Senior Manager, SuccessFactors Foundation; Mike McKay, Software Programmer for International Development, RTI International; and Phil Shapiro, Educator and Technology Access Activist.

The Technology for a Better World campaign is supported by Best Buy’s Children’s Foundation and also includes opportunities for up to fifty teams of young people age 13 to 18 to tackle social issues with support from advisors, access to seed funding and fundraising tools, and opportunities to learn from Youth Venture’s network of partners and over 4,000 Venture Teams worldwide.    

“Best Buy would like to congratulate the winners of the Technology for a Better World campaign,” said Susan Bass Roberts, director, Community Relations for Best Buy. “We are proud to support these young people in partnership with Youth Venture and applaud their efforts to make a difference in their communities through their innovative use of technology.”