University of Maine partners with Tyler Technologies on Maine App Challenge
The University of Maine’s Foster Center for Innovation has partnered with Tyler Technologies Inc., the largest provider of software to the United States public sector, to offer students participating in Tyler’s Maine App Challenge the opportunity to learn valuable innovation skills and credentials as part of the annual app development and scholarship competition.
Tyler has had a strong presence in Maine for many years and has more than 1,200 employees in its Bangor, Falmouth and Yarmouth offices, where the company’s ERP Division is based. Tyler supports more than 250 clients across the state. Since its inception in 2015, the Maine App Challenge has gifted more than $70,000 in 529 college savings plans to students in Maine.
The free innovation workshops, a new feature of the Maine App Challenge for 2022, are designed to teach participating high school students new skills that they can draw upon during the app creation process and beyond. In sessions on brainstorming, customer discovery, prototyping, testing and pitching, students will learn to develop and successfully execute their ideas. In addition to being part of the submission process for the Maine App Challenge, workshop participation will earn students a Level 1 Innovation badge through the University of Maine System micro-credential program.
The Foster Center will begin offering virtual innovation workshops on Dec. 7. Students (and Maine educators) should visit the Maine App Challenge website to register for the sessions. For those who cannot attend the workshops in real-time, session recordings will be posted for later viewing.
The UMS micro-credential badge is being offered at no cost to assist students participating in the Maine App Challenge as they prepare their submissions. Badges will be issued digitally so that they may be shared on social media and professional sites, such as LinkedIn, as well as on students’ personal websites, college applications, e-portfolios or resumes.
Maine App Challenge submissions are due May 15, 2022. For more information about the Maine App Challenge, including additional details on how to participate, contact MACT@tylertech.com.
A news release is online.
Contact: Jennifer Kepler, media.team@tylertech.com; Ashley Forbes, ashley.forbes@maine.edu