5 young Chileans distinguished by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The spanish edition of the MIT Technology Review magazine has selected 35 young innovative latin americans under the age of 35; that have carried out projects and ideas that will improve the way in which we live and work. On this editions, 5 Chileans stood out for their work in technology and their contribution to the well-being.

Barbarita Lara
She has managed to combine a mobile app with radio waves that allow to send signals to citizens under situations of emergency or natural disasters, without the need of a internet connection or data. Inspired by the recurrent earthquakes that often happen in Chile, and after witnessing how the connectivity equipment fails during this catastrophes, Barbarita decided to start working on this project and therefore improve the evacuation, communication, and overall the emergency protocol throughout the country.

Her app, named SiE, has received support and contributions from the Chilean government and private companies. It’s currently in negotiations with the ONEMI (National Emergency Bureau) in order to be officially released.

Pedro Aguilera
Seeking to prevent pressure ulcer and aiming to improve the life of those living on a wheelchair, Pedro created the app Prev UPP. In order for the app to work properly, a special cushion is used; which has several sensors located on strategics areas, above which the patient will be sitting. Through this mechanism, the app is able to detect the changes in pressure and send the information to the patients’ cellphones, creating an alert when detecting a significant change.

Currently, the app is being tested by a group of patients; their feedback will be crucial for the modifications and studies that will make the app optimal in order to be launched into the market. A project inspired by his personal experience on a wheelchair, that wants to improve the quality of life of thousands of people.

Emmanuel Massenez
Due to people’s increasing tendency of buying online, several small companies or “pymes” have been affected, decreasing their production and sales. Due to the previous, Messenez decided to create “Arara”, a software that provides these small business the necessary tools that big companies have.
Its main goal it’s to improve the productivity and keep this companies updated with the digital world. They manage to do this through a software platform that provides analytics about the consumers behaviour and the efficiency of the markets shares. Allowing to attract customers in a personalized and efficient way.

Iván Páez
“Kappo Bike” is a popular app among those who usually ride a bicycle. It seeks to turn the activity of moving from one place to another on a bike in big cities, a more enjoyable and easier experience.

It consists of a game that encourages the user to hump on a bike on a daily basis and register their movements. What only a few of the users know, is that the app gathers the data and through different analisis they determine the actual use of streets and avenues, with the purpose of improving the bike lanes. Currently, this project is trying to form alliances with different companies, motivating the employees to use the bike through competitions and prices.

To this date, Kappo is used in over 50 countries. It has established agreements with different cities (two of them in Denmark) with the purpose of improving the transit and the experience of riding your bike.

Komal Dadlani
In Chile and in other countries of South America, in comparison with other countries, there’s a high percentage of scientific illiteracy. This could be a consequence of the extremely theoretical approach of the discipline, along with the high cost of proper laboratory equipment. With the purpose of reverting this situation, Dadlani decided to take advantage of smartphones and tablets and create a portable lab.

With the use of the accelerometer, the gyroscope, the magnetometer and the camera of each device, Lab4U tries to bring people closer to science through pre-designed experiments.

Currently, the project has been launched as a pilot in Chile, United States, United Arab Emirates and México, and it will probably keep on expanding; specially into school that do not have internet connection, turning it into a highly inclusive tool.

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