Hackathon Agro winners visited England
The trip was the prize for winning the competition co-organised by the Embassy, Cámara Uruguaya de Tecnologías de la Información (CUTI) and Fundación da Vinci.
Winners of the second edition of the Hackathon Agro, Carlos Capano, Juan Francisco Kniazev and Agustín Ackermann, shared their experiences from their trip to England with Ambassador Ian Duddy, upon their return.
The team presented an innovative solution for the prevention of the problem of barley net blotch on 9-10 September 2017 at Expo Prado. In the UK, they met with representatives from different organisations related to their project, such as Barley Hub, Harper Adams University and the Agritech sector of the Department for International Trade DIT.
During the Harper Adams tour, they saw how the university works with drones for farming or soil and tillage projects. They also visited the hands-free hectare project, where farming is done through robotics and technology, and no human has been inside the hectare since the project started, more than one year ago. Hackathon winners described the work as “spectacular”.
Capano, Kniazev and Ackermann didn’t know each other before the Hackathon and they come from different academic backgrounds: agro, business and IT. For them, this was a challenge but also an asset: “Different points of view are exactly what we needed”, they told the ambassador.
At the moment, the team is working to validate their project and create a product from the idea that made them win the Agro Hackathon. They are looking forward to running tests and setting up their company in the near future.
During their trip, they presented their project and created links with English organisations that work in the field. The team is also planning to bid for funds and looking for organisations that could be interested in creating partnerships, especially IT companies working with drones or satellites.
The Hackathon Agro, co-organised by the Embassy, Cámara Uruguaya de Tecnologías de la Información (CUTI) and Fundación da Vinci with the support of FOMIN/BID, SIUR Travel, INIA and ICA, was declared of National Interest by the Uruguayan Ministry of Agriculture.
Watch this video produced by CUTI, where the winners tell their experience to Ambassador Duddy: Ganadores de #HackathonAGRO entrevistados en la Embajada Británica