TCS Names Toronto Student Its 2023–2024 goIT Global Innovator of the Year
13-year-old title winner and runners-up presented apps demonstrating entrepreneurial potential to Tata Consultancy Services judges
With nearly 80,000 submissions from students in 47 countries, TCS’ 2023-2024 goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition closed with finalists hailing from Canada and Mexico. Casey S., age 13, from Toronto, Ontario, took first place and had the thrill of receiving her winning title news from astronaut Nicole Stott, goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition ambassador.
“We are really inspired by all the work going on around the planet that is intended to make life better for all of us, and I’m glad you want to be actively involved in creating solutions,” said Stott after sharing the news with Casey. “Thanks for being a crew mate here on spaceship earth.”
Casey, a grade 8 student, won the global title with her presentation of the concept “Waste Not, Want Not.” The app would use the power of artificial intelligence to make food collection, distribution, and donation fast, efficient, and beneficial to all stakeholders. In doing so, it addresses a trio of issues related mainly to poverty and hunger, but also tied to concerns about global warming.
Competition first and second runners-up, a team from Puebla, Mexico, and another from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, focused on the physical health and wellbeing of individuals, respectively.
Their efforts, and those of other entrants, proved that while today’s youth may be excited about downloading gaming apps and participating in social media dance trends, when it comes to innovating, their priorities are apps that improve people’s quality of life and advance environmental security. Forecasters predict these categories are also poised for major future market growth.
“At the heart of our goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition is TCS' unwavering belief in the potential of youth to drive significant social and environmental change,” said John Dichiara, TCS Global goIT Program Manager. “We’re encouraged that it’s a priority for so many of these talented students.”
The TCS goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition is part of TCS' commitment to engage youth with meaningful computer science projects that encourage them to pursue STEM careers. The program is designed to inspire them to think about global citizenship and potentially position them as future leaders committed to driving sustainable and inclusive solutions.
Like the goIT Monthly Challenge and goIT’s popular in-school programs, the goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition invited individual students or student teams to submit a 1-to-3-minute video pitch, a presentation, or a written proposal describing their ideas and the specific world problem they are addressing. Students target any of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the competition and program coordinators can suggest they concentrate on those with either personal or community relevance.
According to Mobile App Daily, apps like those designed by this year’s winners don’t come anywhere near the top 10% in terms of download popularity, but other analysts see the human health and wellbeing category as a significant opportunity for future growth. Buildfire, for instance, identifies Medical and Health and Wellbeing apps among the top money-making opportunities for tech entrepreneurs. MHealth Solutions Market suggests the market for such apps will grow significantly between now and 2033, stating the mobile health app market is “expected to be worth around $187.7 billion by 2033, up from $63.2 billion in 2023.” That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% during the nine-year forecast period. Similarly, Smart Industry reports high expectations for the growth of enterprise-level sustainability apps.
“These students have seen what they’re capable of in terms innovation and career readiness skills and, if they continue on the path they’re on, the future looks very bright for them,” said DiChiara.
Learn more about this year’s competition, winners, and their innovations, at https://www.tcs.com/who-we-are/corporate-social-responsibility/article/goit-global-innovator-of-the-year-winners.
ABOUT TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world’s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for over 55 years. Its consulting-led, cognitive powered, portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile™ delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 601,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 55 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $29 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and is listed on the BSE and the NSE in India TCS' proactive stance on climate change and award-winning work with communities across the world have earned it a place in leading sustainability indices such as the MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.
ABOUT goIT
TCS’ Go Innovate Together program (goIT) is TCS’ flagship STEM education program. Focusing on digital innovation and career readiness, goIT engages students from diverse backgrounds with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects and computer science, design thinking and digital innovation. The program offers an industry-developed, customizable curriculum that teaches students the 21st century skills necessary for a career in technology. Lessons cover topics including design thinking, rapid prototyping, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more. Visit https://tcsempowers.tcsapps.com/amer/goIT for more information.
