Citizen participation app Yecas wins Smart Cities section at Innovation Awards Latam

Contxto – At the Innovation Awards Latam on September 25 in São Paulo, the community organizing app from Argentina, Yecas, won the Best Startup Award in the Smart Cities category. 

More than 1,700 startups got to see Yecas take away the big prize. Overall, the Innovation Awards Latam ranked Yecas at the 27th most innovative company in Latin America. Take a list at the complete list here.

Perhaps you’ve also noticed that this isn’t the first time the Argentine startup has appeared in Contxto, the first being its profile from earlier this month. 

At the same rate, this isn’t the first time we’ve discussed the Smart Cities category at the Innovation Awards Latam, either. SimpliRoute from Chile also competed as a finalist in the same division. 

Community engagement platform

Just turning two-years-old in August, Yecas is a platform for next-level community engagement. Since its founding, the Argentine collaborative management platform has improved how citizens connect with local governments. 

Connecting individuals and town councils, the technology allows community members to report on issues most important to them. Similarly, users can create campaigns and mobilize support over the platform.

Much of this involves uploading photos of issues they may encounter around the community. For example, broken street lights, graffiti, etc. With Yecas, communities can better discern which issues merit the most attention through the app’s various features, such as upvotes. 

The ProMendoza Foundation reportedly funded the company to travel to Canada to attend the event. Argentine think tank CIPPEC also attended and brought their support. 

For Diego César from Yecas, the event helped solidify its product transforming the way constituents interact with municipal governments. 

 “This time allowed us to verify that Yecas works and that an interface that facilitates citizen engagement is necessary,” said César.

Back in May, Yecas traveled to Toronto to participate in the Collision Conference, one of North America’s largest tech events. Pablo Bicego, Diego César, Sebastián Arbona and Juliana Victoria comprise the leadership team from Mendoza.

Many of the app’s tech features strive to expedite this modern form of civic engagement. Ultimately, Yecas could change the face of politics, according to César.

“There are more than 3,000 civic technologies that facilitate different actions in government-citizenship relationships. It’s only the beginning of developments that will be as disruptive in politics, as is already the case in other areas.”

-JA