The winners of Innovate Durban’s annual Youth Innovation Challenge (YIC) walked away with R75 000 in cash prizes and will participate in a mentorship and training programme for a year.
Organiser Innovate Durban partnered with its founding member, eThekwini Municipality, as well as Zutari, Adams & Adams, the Domino Foundation and Independent Media as the media partner for the competition.
The event was held at the Innovation Co-Lab in Cato Manor, Durban.
The Youth Innovation Challenge includes upskilling workshops, coding training, pitching sessions, prototype development and group solution demonstration events.
The organiser said this year’s participants tackled challenges around the municipality’s Smart City Pillars.
“The participants focused on solving challenges related to the Smart City initiative that is under way by eThekwini Municipality involving solving issues related to infrastructure, service delivery, crowd management and pollution, among others,” said Innovate Durban.
Gaming development company Derivco assisted with the judging of this year’s innovative solutions.
Kiren Sewnath and Tashleen Kasipershad, who called themselves BlueChips Bytes, were placed first in the challenge and received R35 000.
BlueChips Bytes developed an Internet of Things, which is a system of interrelated, internet-connected objects that are able to collect and transfer data, and a machine learning solution to monitor air pollution
In second place was O’Waste’s Zibusiso Mhlanga and Elijah Djan, who received R25 000, while third place went to Andre Adkins, Francis Djumo, Sipho Sithole and Sphephelo Mlunguwana from team Royaume.
Team O’Waste developed an innovative solution to sort recycled goods and streamline recycling for day labourers, while team Royaume developed a water-monitoring device to track and limit water usage.
Sipho Mabunda and Nkosinathi Mkhize from team Saterco received the Zutari Floating Trophy Student Excellence award and Coceka Mngweba was honoured with the Woman in Design Award.
The winners competed against over 60 young people and will join Innovate Durban’s Start-Up Support mentorship and training programme next year.
“The programme will provide them with business and technical skills to take their solutions further, as well as opportunities to further prototype their innovations,” said the organisation.
Itayi Mandonga, chief technology officer at Software AG, said the Youth Innovation Challenge and facilities such as the Innovation Co-lab play an important role in providing opportunities to young people.
The municipality’s chief digitisation officer, Lunga Madlala, said the city remained committed to innovation and recognised the role of digital transformation versus digital optimisation.
Innovate Durban’s long-standing partner, Richard Ahlschlager, who is the technical director at Zutari (formerly Aurecon), expressed his joy in seeing the programme produce tangible results.