Meet the winners: Hack4DigitalVillages Innovation Challenge
The "Hack4DigitalVillages" regional innovation challenge was held this weekend from November 24 to 26 in Fergana, Uzbekistan. The initiative aims to address the agricultural challenges faced by rural Fergana by encouraging youth to code for their own communities.
The challenge, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, with support from IT Park and the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform, attracted 244 applicants.
36 teamswere selected to prototype digital solutions to solve issues related to greenhouse management, water usage and irrigation, pesticide control, and agricultural education.
To ensure the design of user-centric solutions, smallholder farmers from FAO’s pilot Digital Villages of Novkent and Yukhalish village actively participated in the event, providingreal-time feedback on the proposed ideas, and steering participants towards the development of practical solutions adapted to their real needs. The winning team, for instance, relied heavily on the insights and active engagement of these farmers, which proved just as valuableas the advice of IT mentors.
16 made it to the final presentation on Demo Day.ofthe panel of judges,consisting of agricultural, technology, and innovation experts,announced five winning teams, each contributing to different advancements in agricultural technology.
Smart Greenhouse by Everest
In first place, team Everest secured the top spot with their project "Smart Greenhouse." This project introduces an automated greenhouse system, incorporating automatic ventilation, watering, and heating, all controllable remotely via a smartphone. This innovative approach is further enhanced with a smart system for additional greenhouse insulation, allowing users to monitor daily statistics remotely, showcasing the team's dedication to modernizing greenhouse management.
GreenSpring
Team GreenSpring earned the second place with their project focused on the remote control of gardens, greenhouses, and fields. This system, operable through phone applications, allows for the measurement of soil conditions and the monitoring of all environmental parameters remotely, demonstrating their commitment to efficient and accessible agricultural management.
Green Guardia by Curved
In third place was team Curved with their "Green Guardia" project. This data management system facilitates the management of planting and harvesting schedules, incorporates telemetric internet of things (IoT) data, and even allows for the photographing of plants for diagnostic purposes. This project is particularly beneficial for easing the entry threshold into farming for beginners.
RoboGroup
Fourth placeteam,RoboGroup who also participated in the Digital Villages Camp, presented a project focused on the remote control of temperature and humidity in greenhouses. This system can also automatically adjust and maintain the temperature, leading to reduced heating costs, a significant step towards more sustainable greenhouse operations.
Smart Farm by Upgrade
Lastly, in fifth place, team Upgrade introduced "Smart Farm," a project that integrates artificial intelligence with soil sensor installation. This setup can conduct complex analyses of soil condition and readiness in just a few clicks, showcasing the potential for AI in enhancing agricultural efficiency. This allows the farmer to identify what crop to plant based on soil quality and conditions. This team included a participant who was part of DVI twinning, from Tajikistan. He was the lead coder for the solution, and his AI code received complements from mentors for high quality coding.
In recognition of the exceptional young talent and innovation, Hack4DigitalVillages awarded the top five teams with technological equipment valued cumulatively at USD 13000, along with the opportunity for ongoing mentorship and support. The mentorship package includes coaching sessions tailored to each team’s needs as well as the possibility to use the IT Park's office space, computers, and 3D printers for six months. The packages aim to help the winners grow their ideas into real businesses, with an opportunity to expand and strengthen the science behind their work.
The Hack4DigitalVillages challenge, thus, not only celebrated the innovative spirit and technical skills of its participants but also laid a solid foundation for the future growth and real-world implementation of their innovative solutions. The Hack4DigitalVillages innovation challenge underscores the importance of fostering entrepreneurship among the youth as a key strategy to encourage their continued presence and growth in rural areas like Fergana valley.
Background
The Hack4DigitalVillages innovation challenge is a special event within two initiatives of the FAO and the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan:
1. FAO’s Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) in Uzbekistan aims to improve agricultural productivity, enhance farmers' access to digital services, and to uplift rural livelihoods in the Fergana Valley. The initiative was launched in Uzbekistan in 2023 to shepherd the communities of Novkent and Yuksalish into a digitally driven future. It is shaped by a participatory approach aimed at empowering rural people, especially youth, to co-identify and develop solutions to the challenges rural communities face.
The Digital Villages Initiative project in Uzbekistan encompasses several key elements. It includes the assembly of open-source smart farming IoT devices for greenhouses and the piloting of these devices among smallholders under the Digital Villages Camp. Additionally, the project integrates digital literacy and entrepreneurship training programs within target communities. Furthermore, it establishes the Digital Villages Hub, a digital platform for community knowledge sharing. This hub acts as a digital repository of agricultural know-how on Telegram and YouTube by amplifying learnings from the other activities it evolves with community input to ensure it serves the most pressing needs. Simultaneously, online DVI Living Labs sessions take place weekly where the communities of DVI target villages - Novkent and Yukhsalish get the chance to invite experts to address critical topics and facilitate knowledge exchange through online video chat. Furthermore, under the DVI framework, specific activities are organized to promote twinning with the DVI community in Tajikistan. The culmination of these interventions is the Hack4DigitalVillages innovation challenge.
2. Within the framework of the Support to Economic Development project, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz) aims to support small business development and increase employment opportunities for young people with the help of IT and digitalization. For many years, to encourage the development of ICT-based start-ups, the PCUz has been supporting a wide range of capacity-building initiatives and activities in cooperation with project partners. These contain acceleration programmes, incubation programmes, and IT-contests that have helped to strengthen business, digital and IT-capacities of multiple national stakeholders of Uzbekistan, including youth.
