IO Tree, a startup which aims to design and implement a machine to monitor the presence of the med fruit fly and inform the farmer when it’s the best time to spray, won first place at the Agrytech Hackathon event this weekend organized by Berytech, the Ecosystem for entrepreneurs in Lebanon. The Hackathon was held under the Patronage of the President of the Council of Ministers H.E. Mr. Saad Hariri, represented by Minister of Administrative Development H.E. Mr. Nabil de Freige, and supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The first-place team, which included Christina Chaccour and Nisrine El-Turky, won $6,500 and has been pre-selected to join the second edition of Berytech’s Accelerator Program Agrytech, which starts in June 2018 with a boot camp; the team now has access to up to US$100K in support and grants through the program. The team had a functioning prototype to demonstrate in front of the judges and audience at the Hackathon and will now have the chance to take their startup and idea to the next level.
Chairman and CEO of Berytech, Maroun N. Chammas, commented: “We are very excited to organize these events under the Agrytech Program, proving that Lebanon can play a role in solving world challenges in the agri-food sectors.” Chammas thanked Prime Minister Hariri for his valued patronage of the Agrytech Hackathon, “it but emphasizes the passionate support he continues to show Lebanese entrepreneurs.”
Chammas added that the Agrytech Program and all its related activities, would not have been possible without the continuous and unwavering support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. “Thanks to them, we are now working on building a regional and international network through our partnership with StartLife and FoodValley, which ultimately benefits our participating startups.”
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon, H.E. Jan Watmans, said: “Lebanon remains a priority country for the Netherlands and our support will remain strong for the coming years. We are committed to supporting youth and entrepreneurship, in creating jobs, and providing access to education to all residents in Lebanon. The Agrytech program in its first year have been very successful, as we’ve seen many young entrepreneurs come up with a lot of good ideas that contribute in enhancing the agriculture and food processing sectors. We are happy to work again hand in hand with the Berytech team and encourage all youth who have innovative ideas to enroll in this program.”
Hackathon Winners & Participants
There were two winners for second place, team Agry Mac with Abbass Al Hajj, Elie Said, Marc-Halim Matta, and Engema Succar – an application that will detect and/or predict illness in trees soil and plant and team Zaatine with Sarkis Khatecherian, Nshan Karoghinanian and Fadi El Hajj – a machine that solves the challenges of separating Zaatar leaves from the stem. They won a shared prize of $4,500 and are also pre-qualified to attend the boot camp part of the Agrytech Accelerator Program.
The Agrytech Program team qualified 80 participants from some 160 applicants to join the hackathon. They were divided into 26 teams, including developers, engineers, data scientists, designers, innovators, professionals and university students who competed for three consecutive days, to translate innovative ideas into prototypes under the supervision of Dutch consultants and experts from FarmHack.Nl and Source Institute, in addition to Berytech and other members from the agri-food community.
Read more about the event by clicking here.
Apply to Agrytech
Agrytech Accelerator Applications for Batch II are open till April 30, 2018. Apply by clicking here to find out more.
