Three Peruvians on the list of the most innovative young Latin Americans of 2019 according to MIT

Moving forward in leaps and bounds. Peru has been making a name for itself in the international science arena. On this occasion, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) included a group of Peruvians on its prestigious list of the 35 most innovative young Latin Americans of 2019.

To belong to this lucky group, each participant had to present a revolutionary and innovative project that could fit into categories such as biotechnology and medicine, energy and sustainability, and artificial intelligence, to name a few.

A total of 2000 applications were received and very rigorously evaluated by 50 experts in the above fields. Of that total, the disruptive ideas of three Peruvians — Eduardo Rodolfo Lama Segura, Daniel Obregón and Leoncio Pablo Huamán Peredo— captured the attention of the jury, who did not hesitate to recognize the talent of our fellow countrymen in the prestigious list.

"This is a great opportunity to raise the visibility of the most disruptive ideas on the continent and to connect their creators with the most prominent national and international experts in entrepreneurship and innovation," explained Beatriz Ferreira, CEO of Opinno LATAM and MIT Tech Review.

Making Peru proud

Eduardo Lama Segura's project was one of the winners in the Humanitarian category. Through his company he presented a project that consists of eliminating organic waste so that it can be used as food for larvae; which are processed and converted into food products with high amounts of iron and protein. It is worth noting that Peredo, along with two other colleagues, created an innovative product called Demolitor: a chocolate bar made from insects.

Daniel Obregón, who belongs to the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), also won in this category. The idea he put forward was to use seeds from moriche palm fruit —a fruit which grows in the Peruvian Amazon— to purify water. This young man, a chemistry graduate, started this project ten years ago, in 2010, as it was the subject of his thesis. "My expectation in this competition is to encourage someone to take up the challenge of making an activated carbon plant here in Peru", says the winner.

For his part, Leoncio Pablo Huamán Peredo, became one of the winners in the Humanitarian category. Through his company, Vision D, he presented innovative multilingual glasses designed exclusively for hearing-impaired users. Through the power of artificial intelligence they will be able to see what the other person is communicating to them. The idea is to attach a small visor to a pair of lenses, through which words and phrases will be projected in real time.

Huamán Peredo's project won an award in 2018 at Creatividad Electrónica URP 2018 ll, the final contest in the electronic engineering degree course at the Ricardo Palma University.

Unparalleled opportunity

Since 2013, Peru has gained numerous acknowledgments in MIT’s prestigious list. Among the winners, young Mariana Acosta stands out with her acclaimed Laboratoria project, a social enterprise focused on training young people with limited resources in everything related to the digital platform. Acosta belongs to the group of Peruvian innovators who won awards in 2015.

In 2018, another three Peruvians stood out on this prestigious list compiled by MIT. These were Antonella Romero, Rodrigo Salazar and Silvia Caballero.

Innovators Under 35 is an award that has existed since 1999 and gives awards to young people from different regions of the world. Geniuses such as Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, Sergey Brin, the founder of Google and Konstantin Nososelov, winner of the Nobel Prize for physics, have all been recipients.

Sources: Social Geek/ Caretas/ El Comercio/ Entrepeneur/ PUCP/ Gestión/ Innovators Under 35 Latam