Kilimanjaro Team Wins Canary Islands Student Tech Hackathon

This Friday, the Santa Cruz Auditorium was buzzing with new ideas as nearly 44 Vocational Training (FP) students gathered early in the morning. They were there for a tech Hackathon, organized by Proexca and the Government of the Canary Islands. Students had five hours to create a technology prototype that could solve one of four challenges, all competing for a €1,000 prize for the winning team.

A hackathon is an event where teams work together to solve a technical problem quickly using computer tools. For this event, students from IES Las Galletas, CIFP César Manrique, and IES San Juan de la Rambla took part. The main goal is to collaborate and design an innovative product, service, or business model.

Even though students arrived in pre-formed groups, they were mixed up to create new teams on the spot. These new teams were named after famous mountains like Mont Blanc, Everest, Kilimanjaro, Teide, Gran Paraíso, and Aneto. This setup immediately encouraged them to collaborate with people they hadn't worked with before.

For many students, this was a completely new experience. "It's different for them," said Professor Elena Guillén from IES Las Galletas, who brought four students from the Personal Employability Pathway (IPE) course. "They usually work alone on computers. This will really help them."

Other schools agreed. Abraham Sánchez, a professor at IES César Manrique, brought 19 students from his Web Application Development and Networked Computer Systems Administration courses. "We didn't do any special preparation," he explained, "these are skills they've already learned in class."

Sánchez's students signed up for the Hackathon willingly. He noted that IT courses don't often have many extracurricular activities, so for his students, it was a chance to "finally leave the classroom." It was similar at IES San Juan de la Rambla, where teachers Arturo Jiménez and Rayco Guerra said, "When the activity was presented to them, they got excited and wanted to come."

More than just motivating students, the teachers highlighted the benefits these challenges offer to Vocational Training. All four agreed the event helps students learn to interact, communicate clearly, and put their ideas into action. A major benefit is strengthening 'soft skills' like communication, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving. Sánchez added, "Sometimes they are shy. They find it hard to work in groups, and activities like these push them to lead, cooperate, and make decisions."

The main goal was to create tech solutions that would promote talent from the Canary Islands globally. Projects needed to use new technologies (like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, augmented reality, video games, or automation). The solutions also had to be usable in other countries, developed by people living in the Canary Islands, and encourage young Canarian talent to build their careers in the islands.

The four challenges involved: helping the Canary Islands stand out in new industries; modernizing traditional industries such as agriculture or energy; using the tourism sector to develop new ideas; and connecting young islanders with international companies. Most teams chose the third challenge, which focused on tourism and making the economy more diverse.

The Mont Blanc group, made up of four students from IES César Manrique and one from IES San Juan de la Rambla, chose the first challenge. They discussed creating an AI app that uses drones to detect forest fires early. "We wanted something useful, scalable, and quick to test," explained one team member, who was still brainstorming more ideas "just in case."

The Kilimanjaro group chose challenge 2, which focused on modernizing traditional sectors. With students from CIFP César Manrique and IES San Juan de la Rambla, they proposed a tech-based escape room featuring a unique story and visuals. Their idea was to combine animation, learning, and creativity to create experiences that could be used in various industries.

At 2:00 PM, teams began presenting their prototypes to a jury made up of Carmen Cabello, Entrepreneurship Coordinator for the Canary Islands Government; Oswaldo Brito, President of the Technology Cluster; and Juan Luis Lorenzo, Proexca's Director of Marketing, Communication, and Data. After all the presentations, the Kilimanjaro team was awarded the €1,000 prize.