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Innovation Challenge - Finale
15 candidates from over 1,000 applicants presented their ideas to world-class international jury at this year's Innovation Challenge. The three winners in the categories of renewable energies, mechanization and digitalization were awarded support packages with a total value of 240,000 EUR.
The Idea behind the Challenge
In March and April 2020, the GIZ Agricultural Innovation Fund (AIF) published the call for its "Innovation Challenge 2020" on behalf of the BMZ. The aim of this competition was to find and promote innovative local ideas in GIZ partner countries that contribute to a more efficient and sustainable agricultural sector along the entire value chain. In the end, more than 1,000 people from Africa and Southeast Asia submitted their ideas and participated in the Innovation Challenge.
’With the Innovation Challenge, we want to take a different approach to actively integrate people with innovative ideas from our partner countries in our developmental collaboration efforts.’
Sebastian Lesch, BMZ
The finale
The online finale on October 27 was opened by Dirk Schattschneider, Assistant Director General and Commissioner for the special initiative “ONE WORLD – No Hunger” at BMZ. The 15 finalists each presented their innovations in short pitch videos. With their professional backgrounds and expertise from the agricultural sector and international cooperation, the five jury members commented on all the entries, thus providing viewers from across the world with unique perspectives on innovations in the food and agriculture sector.
Michael Hailu
Former Director of CTA
Elizabeth Nsimadala
President of the Pan African Farmers Organization
Rabe Yahaya
Agricultural Mechanization Expert at CIMMYT Ethiopia
Charulata Singal
Investment Specialist at the United Nations Capital Development Fund
Jennifer Bash
CEO Alaska Tanzania (AKTZ) Industries Ltd.
In their assessment of the presented innovations, the jury members took various criteria into consideration including, degree of innovation, potential for implementation, potential gender impact and the relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG 2 (No Hunger). After long deliberation, the jury members came to their decision, which was certainly no easy task given the exceptional nature of each of the top 15 innovations. In each category three winners were selected who will receive support packages (worth a total value of up to EUR 50,000 for the 1st place winner) tailored to their individual innovations; for example, winners may receive coaching and training, mentoring and will have access to the GIZ’s extensive global network. During the award ceremony at the end of the online Finale Sebastian Lesch, Head of Division International Agricultural Policy, Agriculture and Innovation at BMZ announced the winners of this year’s Challenge:
Renewable Energies
1st Place: Akash Agarwal
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies
Agarwal and his father developed in India a network-independent cold storage system operated with agricultural waste.
2nd Place: Mohammed Kamara
Light Salone Innovation
Mohammed Kamara from Sierra Leone has developed irrigation systems powered by solar and windmill systems.
3rd Place: Gladys Kimondo
Diacatek Enterprise
Gladys Kimondo from Kenya builds solar-powered hybrid dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and waste.
Finalist: Mahbubul Islam
Bangladesh Biochar Initiative
Mahbubul Islam's innovation is a fuel-efficient cooking stove that uses biomass to produce biochar.
Finalist: Moulay Youssef El Hafidi
Ecomag
Moulay Youssef El Hafidi developed a magnetic power generator for farmers and nomads.
Mechanization
1st Place: Piwai Chikasha
Alley Capital Group
Piwai Chikasha from Zimbabwe uses robot-assisted precision drones for pest control, which are more fuel-efficient and better for the environment than traditional methods.
2nd Place: Devi Murthy
Kamal Kisan
Devi Murthy from India and her team developed a platform approach to mechanize rice cultivation.
3rd Place: Isaac Osei
DigiExt
Isaac Osei from Ghana offers a sustainable innovation for processing agricultural residues into paper products.
Finalist: Gbogboade Seun
JustGreen Agri-power Services
The innovation of Gbogboade Seun from Nigeria is an ox-drawn agricultural machine for conservation agriculture.
Finalist: Alfred Chengula
Imara Tech
Alfred Chengula's innovation is a portable multi-fruit threshing machine.
Digitalization
1st Place: Tiffany Tong und Sonika Manandhar
Aeloi Technologies
The team from Canada and Nepal provides financing solutions for micro-enterprises by connecting financial institutions, donors, micro-entrepreneurs and vendors via digital token.
2nd Place: Chukwuemeka Oyiana
Upshore Robotics
Chukwuemeka Oyiana from Nigeria offers a drone service for seed sowing and the integration of instant messaging apps to address a broad customer base.
3rd Place: Hayfa Khalfaoui
Lait Espoir
Hayfa Khalfaoui from Tunisia offers a mobile app that enables dairy farmers to quickly diagnose animal health.
Finalist: Naufal Achmad
Digital Engineering Indonesia
Naufal Achmad from Indonesia developed a land use system for villages for sustainable management of natural resources.
Finalist: Ubio Obu
Virtual Farm
Ubio Obu from India/Nigeria offers a virtual farm that enables urban communities to manage vertical farms online.
Congratulations are in order for all of the winners in all three categories – each of their innovations represents a tool with great potential to contribute to combating hunger and poverty as well as enriching rural areas with opportunities for growth. Moreover, this is just the beginning of our support for innovations which will contribute to the future of the food and agriculture sector. Further Innovation Challenges will once again bring together clever minds from across the world to find solutions to tackle some of the most pressing issues on the global agenda. For more information on the Innovation Challenge, feel free to contact us: AIF-info@giz.de
A short video with the highlights of the finale can be found here.
And, in case you missed this year’s event in live-stream, don’t worry, the event has been recorded and can be viewed below/on Youtube by following the link or clicking on the individual finalists in our YouTube Playlist to watch their pitches.
Further Publication on the Innovation Challenge
Promoting agricultural innovations: 1,000 ideas for a world without hunger
Article on the course of the Innovation Challenge, published in June 2020.
Ideas on the ground: Local solutions for global challenges
A conversation with BMZ Head of Division Sebastian Lesch on the Innovation Challenge programme of the new Agricultural Innovation Fund.