UNOOSA and Technovation sign agreement to help girls leverage space technologies for sustainable development

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and Technovation, a global technology education non-profit, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to empower underserved communities, particularly girls, to acquire skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and leverage technology to address development problems.  

Every year, Technovation invites teams of young people to learn and apply the skills needed to solve real-world problems through technology, as part of a competition. Through this MoU, UNOOSA will help integrate satellite data into the competition, with the goal of stimulating the interest of girls aged 8-18 and their families to use space data to address issues in their local communities. UNOOSA and Technovation will connect the students with experts, who will serve as their mentors, and facilitate access to datasets that students and experts can use to create local solutions. 

The parties will create inspirational material, such as videos, to engage participants in the use of space data to find practical solutions and help promote the applications created through the competition. UNOOSA and Technovation will also jointly create training resources for mentors and coaches geared towards young women to use satellite data, artificial intelligence and coding skills to tackle Sustainable Development Goal 13 “Climate Action” in particular.

Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of UNOOSA, said: “UNOOSA and Technovation share important common goals, such as building capacity with regards to STEM among girls and advancing the use of space-based data to create innovative solutions to development problems. With this MoU, we are ready to work together to integrate space-based information into this year’s Technovation activities, inspiring young minds to look to the potential of space to lift humanity.” 

“The events of the last year have not just exposed but actually exacerbated the many complex problems we face as a global community, reinforcing the urgent need to develop stronger problem solvers who can tackle them,” said Tara Chklovski, CEO & Founder of Technovation. “With support from our partners, our new climate and AI initiatives will help girls from under-resourced communities around the world access the knowledge, skills and community capital they’ll need to help create a more resilient, equitable world.”