TPrize is an open innovation initiative that aims to provide and promote solutions to educational challenges that exist in Latin America and the Caribbean.  This is developed through the use of collective intelligence to design and launch educational innovation challenges that bring together high-impact solution ideas.

To this end, the TPrize 2022 challenge aims to solve the following challenge question:

How can young people acquire skills and create their personal and work development plan to access better opportunities and actively participate in the transformation of their environments?

To this end, it seeks technological solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean that impact one of the following approaches:

• Approach 1: Propose to teachers, tools, methodologies and best practices for the development of skills and competencies in young people.
• Approach 2: Approach employers with skills recognition strategies to be facilitators for first experiences and opportunities.
• Approach 3: Provide to disadvantaged youth with tools and applied knowledge to accelerate their employability.
• Approach 4: Implement proposals that contribute to the reduction of the gender gap both in training and in the insertion and permanence of young women in the labor market

Participating in the TPrize 2022 challenge offers:

1. A USD$100,000 prize pool, available to the finalists and winners of the TPrize challenge. Each finalist team will receive USD$5,000 and each winning team will receive a total of USD$15,000
2. A support program for each winning team, equivalent to USD$25,000. This program includes mentoring, networking, connection with experts and industry leaders and other activities that allow them to incubate, scale or accelerate solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Year 2022 begins with a scenario where after 2 years of pandemic, it seems that we are back to normal but with some lessons learned and we begin to see the impact that the pandemic has left.

In these years we have seen that the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for change both in higher education and in the labor market. It also has changed the thinking in the region's institutions about what is needed for the future, in addition to boosting the edtech sector, where the investment has grown considerably.

According to the ILO (International Labor Office), the COVID-19 crisis in the labor markets raised the unemployment rate among Latin American and Caribbean youth to over 20 percent, a proportion that is three times the rate for adults and more than double the average general unemployment rate in the region. In absolute numbers, more than 10 million young people are seeking employment without finding it.

In addition to this challenge, more than four out of every ten companies in Latin America say they have difficulty finding workers with the right skills. According to ManpowerGroup surveys, 39% of Latin American organizations have problems filling vacancies and 68% say they do not have the right candidates.

 That is why this year from TPrize we want to focus on reducing the skills gap of young people so that they have better opportunities and can participate in the transformation of their environments. It is necessary to invest in skills to anticipate present and future needs.

To this end, the TPrize 2022 challenge seeks technological solutions that impact Latin America and the Caribbean to:

• Propose to teachers, tools, methodologies and best practices for the development of skills and competencies in young people.

• Approach employers with skills recognition strategies to be facilitators for first experiences and opportunities.

• Provide to disadvantaged youth with tools and applied knowledge to accelerate their employability.

• Implement proposals that contribute to the reduction of the gender gap both in training and in the insertion and permanence of young women in the labor market

• Participate in challenge workshops that will present methodologies and tools that will allow for more assertive applications
• Review the application form in detail in order to provide concrete, clear and consistent answers to each of the questions.
• Contribute and provide feedback to the solutions of other applicant groups. This strengthens the open innovation process and encourages continuous improvement of solutions.

1. Applicants must be working or planning to expand their solution to Latin America or the Caribbean.
2. Individual applicants must be at least 18 years old. If applied in teams, at least one of the members must be 18 years old.
3. Applications can be developed in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
4. Solutions must be at least at the prototype stage. The TPrize challenge does not accept solutions in a state of ideation or conceptualization.

1. Alignment: The solution addresses the challenge that has been set forth

2. Potential for Impact: The planned solution implementation has the potential to impact lives and drive economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

3. Scalability:  The solution can be scaled to affect the lives of more people

4. Feasibility: Solution implementation is feasible, and the team has a plan for financial sustainability

5. Innovative Approach: This is a new solution, a new application of a solution, a new business model, or a new process for solving the challenge, and the team clearly identifies its competitive advantages (e.g. intellectual property)

6. Inclusive Human-Centered Design: The solution is designed with and for underserved communities, and the solution team demonstrates proximity to the community and embodies and addresses diversity, equity, and inclusion through their solution