Young agricultural innovators showcase their talent in international contest

The final round of pitches for the Global AgriInno Challenge 2024 opened on Thursday, drawing attention from young agricultural technology entrepreneurs from across the globe engaged in innovation-driven agricultural solutions.

Nine international teams and dozens of young entrepreneurs showcased their artificial intelligence-empowered solutions to address the challenging issues in the global agrifood systems transformation.

After an intensive three-hour schedule, the Identi team from Peru emerged as the winners of this year's competition. A team from Tanzania received silver for their Climate-Smart Irrigator proposal, while the Smart Tomato project from China clinched bronze.

The event was jointly initiated in 2020 by Zhejiang University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The competition was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Binjiang district government in Hangzhou and e-commerce company Pinduoduo (PDD).

It marks the fourth consecutive year that Pinduoduo has sponsored the event. Hou Kaidi, vice-president of Pinduoduo, said that AI will inject new vitality into agricultural production. Pinduoduo hopes to create a platform for young agricultural technology entrepreneurs from around the world to communicate with each other, facilitate the application of AI-empowered agriculture.

"Pinduoduo will continue to work with global young scientists, technological innovators and individuals to join this promising path to vitalize agriculture," Hou said.

Wei Longbao, head of the judging panel of the competition and a professor from Zhejiang University, said: "Through the competition, we have seen many excellent digital agricultural solutions, innovative ideas and technologies that are leading the advancement of the global agrifood system. The innovation and dedication today will become the seeds for changing the future of the agrifood system and make the system more sustainable and resilient."