LOS BAnOS, Laguna, Nov 5 (PIA) --Young innovators are called to join the Innovation Olympics 2.0, an "agri hackathon" for the youth to develop innovative solutions for the farming sector of the country. The deadline for entries is on November 7, 2020. Submission may be done online via https://tinyurl.com/ IO2Application.

Themed "Precision Agriculture for Small-Scale Vegetable Farming," Innovation Olympics 2.0 is a way for students to share, create, and pilot new technology solutions for urban and rural smallholder vegetable farmers.

"Precision agriculture aims to increase the profitability of farmers while sustaining the environment through employing more efficient and new technologies in crop production," explained University of the Philippines Los Banos Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (UPLB-TTBDO) Director Glenn Baticados.

Undergraduate and graduate students, who can form a team of at least three members per team, from any university in the Philippines may join the competition.

The participating teams will receive online training and demonstrations as well as seed money for each stage, including actual implementation of the projects in farming communities.

From a total of thirty participating teams that will receive P10 000 ideation money each, two finalists from each region will then be selected to implement their projects with P100,000 seed money each.

The competition will culminate on the National Demo Day in June 2021, wherein six finalists will vie for the grand prize of P200,000. A panel of experts will evaluate the implementation and impact of their innovative solutions.

The Innovation Olympics 2.0 is made possible by the partnership of East-West Seed with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Sensient Colors LLC, UPLB, UPLB-TTBDO, UPLB Startup Innovation and Business Opportunity Linkaging Labs (SIBOL Labs), and APEX: The UPLB Business Network.

SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio stressed that while the new normal challenged the agricultural sector, it also paved a way for more innovations to be developed and employed to help food producers and address the needs of consumers in this unprecedented time.

"During this time, the agricultural sector is the most affected and at the same time the most appreciated.... Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures that's why we have Innovation Olympics 2.0.," he said. (PIA-4A/SEARCA)