Agriguard wins 2023 Climate Tech Hackathon
Ignitia, a tropical weather forecasting company, in partnership with Kosmos Innovation Centre, Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, and International Trade Centre - Netherlands Trust Fund 5 has organised a Climate Tech Hackathon to find solutions to the climate crisis facing the world.
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The competition was for the participants to come out with innovations that would help the world, particularly Africa, to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The two-day event saw more than 50 applicants from the sub-region take part in the competition.
Winners
The team Agriguard from the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology emerged as the overall winners with their Flood Management System Solution which provides a real-time comprehensive data collection on the weather and climate conditions and was adjudged to be the most innovative.
The team took home a cash prize of $2000.
They were followed by Team Greenance which came second with their blockchain-based crowd investment platform that funds interventions to mitigate weather-related disasters in real-time with Team Farmlynco coming third with their advisory services that focuses primarily on spraying and connecting farmers to agronomic consultancy services across Africa.
They also took home cash prizes and certificate of participation.
Objective
Speaking at the event, the Regional Director for ignitia Africa, Kwabena Frimpong, said the Climate Tech Hackathon was to give opportunity to young and technical enthusiast Africans to come out with innovative solutions to address climate change issues and market concerns that would contribute to the sustainable development of the continent.
“It is an opportunity for developers, innovator communities, and young innovators across the continent to demonstrate the power of partnerships and to build innovative digital solutions ready for quick implementation and can give immediate results to build Africa's climate change resilience,” he said.
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He said the participants were taken through project pitching training and mentorship sessions to further validate their ideas towards meeting the innovation challenge aimed at addressing relevant SDGs such as Zero Hunger and Climate Action.
“It is our hope that the significant technologies or solutions that emerged from this 2023 hackathon will be put to the service of our dear nation and the world at large.
“It is worth mentioning that, while we innovate around climate change, we are also designing new economic activities and it is in the interest of all of us to become active participants in climate innovation and not just passive recipients of climate technology” he said.
Potential
The Executive Director, Kosmos Innovation Centre, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, said it was obvious from the hackathon that African youth had the potential to contribute to climate change adaptation digital technologies.
“The innovative ideas presented here provide ample evidence of this potential and it’s time to support the youth by incubating and upscaling their solutions to turn their potential into actual climate change adaptation actions” he urged.
The National Project Coordinator for the International Trade Centre - Netherlands Trust Fund 5, Isaac Newton Acquah, applauded ignitia Ghana for its hands-on engagement that allowed the young innovators to be more creative and explore solutions that used digital technologies to offer alternative solutions to climate resilience through cross-border understanding of the challenges.