Successful second Hackathon Agro in Montevideo
The British Embassy, ARU, CUTI and Fundación da Vinci co-organised the 2nd Hackathon Agro at Expo Prado 2017 on 9-10 September.
Nine teams made up of three experts in information technology, agriculture and business participated in the second edition of this competition. Their objective was to resolve - through the use of technology - one of the challenges presented by the organisers, on issues that have an impact on the Uruguayan agricultural sector.
The winning team was formed by Agronomy student Juan Francisco Kniazev, International Business student Carlos Capana and IT expert Agustín Ackermann, who met at the competition. They presented an innovative solution for the prevention of the problem of barley net blotch.
The prize for the team members is a trip to London and four-night accommodation to attend the conference “Game Changing Technologies for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy”. They will also visit Harper Adams University, one of the most renowned universities in United Kingdom for agricultural courses, where they will meet both with the authorities and agricultural sector entrepreneurs.
In this second edition of the Hackathon Agro the multidisciplinary teams worked for 36 hours to find solutions to one of four challenges that were set out on Saturday morning.
These four challenge options covered a range of different problems that are faced by the Uruguayan agriculture and livestock sectors:
- how to use a limited water supply to irrigate summer crops (such as corn, soya bean and sorghum)
- how to predict the possible appearance of disease in wheat and barley in order to take preventative action or treat the disease quickly
- when best to buy and use different products that help to fatten cattle and when best to sell to maximise profit
- how to easily control livestock’s access to water, pasture or rations
The jury, formed by agronomist and MBA in agribusiness, Ana Castillo, agronomist and Vice-president of both ARU and the Confederation of Business Chambers, Gerardo García Pintos, and computer studies engineer, MBA and CUTI’s President Leonardo Loureiro, presented the first prize to the team.
The second place was awarded to the team formed by María Inés Álvarez, Ignacio Figueredo and Marcelo Ortega, with a project that proposed a watering platform which provides the producers the information that allows them to pick the suitable moment to irrigate and the amount of water to use. The third winning team was formed by Fabiana Mautone, Renzo Mayer and Javier Rodríguez. The team set out automation solutions for virtual wire fences.
Ambassador Ian Duddy participated in the opening and closing ceremonies and thanked Siur Viajes, the main sponsor, for their support. He also thanked ICA, BID-FOMIN, INIA and Harper Adams University for supporting the event.
The teams awarded second and third place will receive coaching sessions by Human Capital Consulting Uruguay (London International Coaching Community representatives) to strengthen their projects.