The Generalitat launches the third edition of iFest, the festival of science, technology, and disruption

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a Generalitat de Catalunya, through the program Catalunya Emprèn ("Catalonia undertakes") of the Department of Business and Knowledge, launches the third edition of iFest, the festival of science, technology, and disruption. The objective of this initiative is to convey the awareness that young people can do great things in the coming years, that they can be more "sophisticated" than they initially might think, that this sophistication can come from science, innovation, and technology; disruption in general.

iFest is aimed at all young people who are interested in science, innovation, technology, and who want to make disruptive contributions to society. The participants in iFest are young students from vocational training, high school, and universities, called players, who form teams and have a teacher or leader (shaker) who guides them throughout the project.

One of the novelties of this year's edition is the iFest Countdown, a program in which participating teams will develop a solution to one of the 12 real challenges posed by companies that, through technology, want to have an impact on society. The methodology used is based on four phases: Inspiration, Ideation, Prototyping, and Communication. This methodology fosters creativity and leads projects towards disruption. During the process, they will work with dynamics and content of disruptive innovation, developed and validated in Silicon Valley. The process is already underway and will last several months with the aim of reaching a maximally innovative and viable solution.

The challenges that the projects of the participating teams must address are:

1. ICAEN (Catalan Energy Institute), How to empower people so they can decide about their energy consumption?
2. Cuatrecases, How can we raise society's awareness about the opportunities and legal risks presented by our daily actions? Or, how can we foster knowledge of new innovation trends and new business models among legal operators who apply and interpret norms so that both worlds are more connected?
3. Barcelona Science Park, How would you improve the daily life of a patient suffering from muscular dystrophy or Kennedy's disease?
4. Gardening Guild and Carl Faust Foundation, What should gardens and urban vegetation be for (and what will they be like) in 2030?
5. Atrápalo, How can we make our users aware of the true value of their time?
6. Canon, What would you like the company of the future to be like?
7. Penguin Random House, How to combine technology and new trends with literature?
8. Schneider Electric, How can we raise awareness and incentivize families in Spain to be more responsible for their homes in terms of energy?
9. Vodafone Group: How to improve students' educational experience through new digital technologies?
10. Aguas de Barcelona, Barcelona, water, and sustainable tourism. How do we raise awareness, innovate, and learn to highlight the value of water?
11. Mobile World Capital Barcelona, How to improve the lives of people with disabilities or functional diversity through mobile technologies?
12. Volkswagen Group España Distribución, What will future training be like through new technologies?

Mentoring from experts from various sectors

During the first months, participants will work in depth on the challenge, and they will be able to do so with the support of a team of renowned mentors in different fields, who are protagonists of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Some of them are Aleix Planas, director of BizBarcelona, Marc Bonavia, CEO of "Catalonia.com" in Silicon Valley, Xavier Verdaguer, serial entrepreneur and founder of Imagine Creativity Center, Alfons Nonell-Canales from Mindthebyte, Maria Mora from Fomento del Trabajo, Alex Puig from Digital Currency Summit, Cristina Aresté, Head of the Innovation Management Service at UPC, Quim Gudayol, director of Nexos and a long list of experts. They will also have the support of mentors that the companies themselves - which pose the challenges - offer to the participants. The web of iFest includes detailed sheets to evolve the project and guides for teachers, in order to be able to teach it in their classes.

Activities throughout the Catalan territory to get to know the Catalan entrepreneurial ecosystem

The iFest Countdown proposes a series of activities as a complement to the didactic units that work on the disruptive method, with the aim that the players discover the Catalan startup ecosystem firsthand. Thus, the teams will participate in on-site activities (visits to innovation centers, startups, coworking, accelerators...) and in workshops linked to the disruptive work method for challenges.

In order to show a global vision of the system, visits will be made to emblematic centers such as Pier01, the international technological Hub of reference in Europe, Conector, Netmentora, Barcelona Drone Center, FabCafé, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spaces, Valkiria Hub Space...

Exponential technologies, present and future

Exponential technologies such as IOT, nanotechnology, Artificial intelligence and robotics, VR / MX, biotechnology and Blockchain will be very present during the iFest Countdown, as tools to solve the great challenges of humanity. The players will come into contact with these technologies, which will be part of the development of their projects.

iFest Zero

These projects will be exhibited at a final event, iFest Zero 2019, a congress with inspiring talks, projects with solutions to real challenges and networking for innovation and technology enthusiasts. In this context, the Demo Day will take place where teams will make the final presentation of their projects and prototypes to compete with the rest of the participants.

This event will also feature the following spaces:

Meet Inspiration Talks and different performances by young protagonists of current innovation and disruption to inspire, show cases and examples, generate sympathy and "spread" the desire to do things. Science, technology, opportunities, in a creative, enabling, entrepreneurial and open environment.

Discovery Workshops Workshops technological to discover exponential technologies through augmented reality or gaming by their protagonists: companies and experts that provide solutions to the world's most urgent challenges.

Prototypes Exhibition Showcase of prototypes where young people and centers can show their demos and explain their entire maturation process to attendees as an audience, among whom investors will have been invited.

Demo Day The big moment, in which each team will have to defend their project through the presentation of their prototypes, and thus compete with the rest of the participants.

With the formula Disruption x Technology + Challenges = You can change the world, iFest invites all young people to participate.