Agricultural Science students take out second prize in AgTech Innovation Bootcamp

Agricultural Science students Alex Newbold, Courtney Lean, and Emma Knowles took out the second prize of $1,000 cash for their idea AG-gave at the AgTech Innovation Bootcamp, which was held on the 15th and 16th of June in Renmark. Waite PhD Candidates Hitasha Singh and Sreshtha Malik, along with Conor Barry, Raja Mandava and YiMing He were also awarded the AusIndustry Picking Approaches Prize of $1,000 cash for their idea Drop-Ripe. 

The AgTech Innovation Bootcamp, delivered by ThincLab Loxton in partnership with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, was held over 48 hours and involved seven teams pitching their AgTech innovation to an expert panel of judges and their peers. The teams, some of whom had only met the night before, went on to deliver diverse and creative solutions addressing the key challenges of Picking Approaches (prize sponsored by AusIndustry), Activation of Renmark Irrigation Trust Land (prize sponsored by Renmark Irrigation Trust), and Access to Data and Digitisation. The bootcamp also had a concurrent school stream where local year 10, 11 and 12 students from Renmark High School and Loxton High School were exposed to emerging technology that could be applied to agriculture.

Congratulations and thank you to all of the participants for making this bootcamp a priority, and for being open to collaboration and learning. We are very proud of the teams and hope to see them continue to develop and generate innovative ideas for the agricultural space beyond the bootcamp.

First Prize ($2,000 cash and ThincLab incubation)
EcoSystem Farms
Brendan Dobson

Second Prize ($1,000 cash)
AG-gave
Alex Newbold, Courtney Lean, and Emma Knowles

Third Prize ($500 cash)
Farmadise
Dhanush Pradeep, Navyanth Nambiar, and Samed Altundag

AusIndustry Picking Approaches Prize ($1,000)
Drop-Ripe
Conor Barry, Hitasha Singh, Raja Mandava, Sreshtha Malik and YiMing He

Renmark Irrigation Trust Prize ($1,500)
Incontrol Farms
Gonzalo Martin Canepa, Santiago Insaurralde, Zane Sheffield and Leigh Foley

Team AG-gave