Hive Colab and Outbox would like to invite you to nominate a team (or even your own team) to participate in the upcoming ICT4Ag National selection event to take place at Outbox on the 30th September starting at 5pm.
What is the ICT4Ag conference
The ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) international conference will take place from 4th - 8th November 2013 in Kigali Rwanda and it seeks to examine how ICTs are truly empowering producers and consumers along the entire value chain. It will showcase the possibilities and incredible developments taking place in this area, with a particular emphasis on value chains, advocacy and policy development.
One of the activities to run in parallel with the conference is a pilot hackathon, dubbed the Agri-hack championship, focused on the agricultural sector whose objectives are to:
a) Showcase the potentials of ICT applications in agriculture at the ICT4Ag conference
b) Support the development of ICT innovations and entrepreneurship in Agriculture
The best three applications selected at the regional finals in Kigali will receive awards as described below
Cash Prizes
5000 Euros for the first winner
4000 Euros for the second winner
3000 Euros for the third winner
Six month incubation and mentoring
The winning teams will be offered incubation and mentoring for six month in the hubs that support their application (the winning hubs) to finalize development of the applications and prepare for their operational launch
It is on this background that Hive Colab and Outbox have been selected as partner hubs to ICT4Ag to run a national selection event in Uganda to choose two teams to represent each of the hubs respectively in the Agri-hack championship.
How can i get involved in the National selection event?
a) You can nominate your team or another team that is developing something for ICT in Agriculture to participate in the national selection event by the 25th September 2013
The team should not have an already developed product but should be looking forward to developing one.
The solution the team is hoping to work on should fall under the following challenges;
Challenge 1: How can bi-directional information sharing and communication between farmers and extension workers be encouraged or improved? Key areas of interest include information sharing and advisory on soil fertility, fertilizers, weather information, pests, diseases, access to localized farming inputs, multimedia content and ability to verify counterfeit products
Challenge 2: Through ICT applications, how can access to financial services be made easier for farmers through a disruptive, innovative tool?
Fill in this form with the details of the team you will have nominated.
b) On the 30th September, you will be invited to then pitch in-front of a jury to be selected as one of the two teams to represent Uganda in the Agri-hack championship
c) If you make it as one of the final two teams, you will be required to select a hub (Hive Colab or Outbox) that you would like to work with, receiving technical assistance and mentoring support as you further develop your product during the month of October before the Agri-hack Championship. The hub will also have a say in the team that it would like to work with as it has to choose a team that best represents it in the championship. This pairing means that your team and the hub will work together to win up-to 5,000 Euros for the first winner at the ICT4Ag championship, with support for your incubation and mentoring from your partner hub. So you would look at the hub as your coach.
Key dates
30th September 2013 National selection event for Uganda
02 October 2013 Submission of names for selected teams to ICT4Ag technical team
4 - 7 November 2013 Finals of the ICT4Ag hackathon
Follow-up 1 Incubation, coaching etc
Follow-up 2 From March 2014: Capitalization, Knowledge sharing workshop..
We hope to see you participate in the National Selection event on 30th September 2013
- See more at: http://localhost/outbox/blog/ict4ag-national-selection-event#sthash.Ute7...
