The Durban University of Technology and the International Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) invite all students and young professionals to apply to participate in the Durban AgriHack Challenge.

The hackathon will take place in Durban, from 28 to 2 December 2015. This event is aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship within the agricultural sector amongst young people with a keen interest in ICT. It is organised as part of the Global Forum on Innovations in Agriculture in Africa (GFIA Africa).

Two editions of the AgriHack talent initiative have already been successfully implemented. The initiative is aimed at supporting youth livelihoods and innovations in the agri-food sector.

Interested teams/groups are urged to register to compete in:

– Category 1 which involves climate change;
– Category 2 which is the start-up category; or
– Category 3 which is the Agricultural Magazine.

“I wish I was allowed to enter,” said Professor Ahmed Bawa, DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal. “Events like this bring together idea generators, industry experts and our very own software students. This functional separation allows the idea to prevail and everyone is geared towards a common goal – an artefact or product that does something useful. This project is a massive undertaking by DUT and we hope society will support us,” said Prof Bawa.

Successful teams will win €14,000 as a cash prize to support incubation or opportunity for consultancy after the hackathon. Capacity building will also be provided and best products developed will be promoted through various means.

The competition will be composed of 10 teams each consisting of up to four members. The competition closes on 8 November 2015. Interested parties are urged to register at http://surveymonkey.com/r/agrihack-durban.

For more information, please contact Colin Thakur, e-Skills CoLab Director and Invotech Chairman at Thakur@dut.ac.za

Picture credit: http://durban-agrihack.ict4ag.org