Humble Francis
Downtown Africa Mag – The Professor Ayodele Awojobi Design Competition (PAADC) has awarded N1 million to a team of five students from the University of Ibadan. They showcased a solution that involved robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address social challenges in Nigeria.
This year is the third edition of PAADC which kicked off in Lagos recently. The team was from Hive, a learning community that builds and uses robots to tackle social problems in the country. The team won after defeating 49 other teams from 20 African tertiary institutions. They received the grand prize, pro bono venture building, as well as mentoring support. Verraki Partners emerged as the entity to fund all the supports mentioned.
The competition was judged by an expert panel of judges, including the Head, Innovation and Sustainability, Honeywell Group, Tomi Otudeko; Managing Director, Mines.io, Adia Sowho; Programmes Manager, NeuBridges, Demilade Adesiyan; CEO, SImbi Interactives, Azeez Ogunjobi and Vice President, African Capital Alliance.
The judges selected Hive as the winner of the competition after analyzing and assessing all the contestants’ applications based on the product performance/dynamics, value potential, scalability, business model, monetization, price sustainability, competitive advantage, customer acquisition and partnership projections among others.
“The fact that the project has very clearly defined ambitions has gone a long way in securing the bag. Much more than I expected, we might be looking at our own iron man,” said Chinaza Onuzo, the Vice President at African Capital Alliance as well as the Chief Judge of the competition.
Coming as the first runner-up of the 3rd PAADC was Team WantToPrint from Obafemi Awolowo University. The team introduced an online platform that connects students to printing places around campus which helps to save time. On the other hand, Team iGlass from Ahmadu Bello University was the second runner-up. They created a visual assistant for visually impaired citizens, particularly students.
The year’s edition of PAADC went under the theme: The Influence of Innovation and Technology in a Progressive Society. It featured more than 2,300 participants who include academics, technology, and startup founders.
Source: thisdaylive.com
