Forging New Cyber and Business Generation of Puerto Rico

PRTEC, a nonprofit organization is dedicated on promoting the socioeconomic development of the Western Region, and on its strategy to integrate the sectors of high technology companies, academy and government, has created the Youths Techno Project. It has impacted 188 young participants and 20 communities in the development of technological skills and labor market in order to move towards a proper occupational decision.

Since January 2007, PRTEC has offered nine editions of the Techno-Youth Project which took place in various municipalities of the Western Region of Puerto Rico. Sponsored by high-tech companies, such as Microsoft, and different academic institutions, like the University of Puerto Rico and the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, they have helped minimize the technological gap that exists in these communities. Participants of the Techno-Youth Project have had the opportunity to acquire knowledge in different areas such as the following:

Introduction to computers

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Points and Publisher)

Creation of Web Pages

Photo Journalism

Creation of Digital Logos

Entrepreneurship Workshop

In 2010, instead of offering the traditional curriculum, PRTEC decided to offer something different than what they had offered in their previous six editions, adding Software Application of Movie Maker, a Biotechnology exercise given at the BDTC, and visiting the Alzamora Farm located at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, as other courses in their project. On April 2011, began the ninth edition of the Techno-Youth Project which culminated on June of the current year. As they did in their seventh edition, the curriculum changed and became a more challenging and exciting one for the students. Topics included for this edition of the project were: robotics, renewable energy, tourism, nanotechnology, project management, and business and project development.