Young Innovators Tech’s app, which aims to address the challenges faced by local farmers, was crowned the winner at Pan African Information Communication Technology Association’s (PAICTA’s) virtual hackathon challenge at the weekend.
PAICTA and University of Johannesburg's (UJ’s) Technopreneurship Centre joined forces to host the hackathon that sought to unearth innovative tech solutions to some of SA’s everyday challenges.
Established in July, PAICTA defines itself as an organisation that seeks to advance the ICT pursuits of African SMMEs through the facilitation of an inclusive ecosystem that is conducive to their economic growth.
In a statement, PAICTA says 13 groups of students studying in various disciplines at UJ were randomly teamed up to collaborate on a tech innovation to solve an existing challenge in the agriculture sector.
The students were assigned mentors from academia and industry to help guide the ideation and design process, following which the students presented their ideas to a panel of judges.
Winning group Young Innovators Tech impressed the judges with their interactive app, which is said to help farmers have increased productivity and communication within the agricultural sectors, especially remote rural area with tech challenges.
“The high level of thinking and the professionalism that went into presentations by the students serves as reassurance to PAICTA that the digital future of Africa is in good hands,” says the organisation’s president Sonwabo Mdwaba.
According to PAICTA, some of the students' winning ideas will undergo incubation to determine their viability for future commercialisation.
“We are going to keep the details of all the students who participated on our database for consideration for entrepreneurial development. We will prepare them to enter an idea for a competition early next year, where the winners will have an opportunity to present their idea or prototype to potential investors,” adds Mdwaba.
Ronny Mabokela, head of the UJ Technopreneurship Centre, says “The success of this hackathon is a demonstration of the power of collaboration, and more importantly, the amazing potential that we have in the country. These young people have proved that they are ready to disrupt the market place.”
Young Innovators Tech walked away with a winning prize valued at R85 000 and a commitment that their solution will be developed further within the UJ Technopreurship Centre. In addition, it will be put into the pipeline for incubation and will be assessed for commercialisation.
All other participants will receive free training courses from the Cisco Networking Academy.
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