A Berytech alumnus dubbed “Green TaQa” has claimed the top spot at the Arab Youth Hackathon. The projectspecializes on harnessing biogas from crop and animal waste using anaerobic digestion technology. This in turnoffers farmers an eco-friendly energy alternative, boosts profit margins and curbs pollution and Greenhousegas emissions. Green TaQa was awarded US$ 30,000 in grant funds to be spent on transforming the project intoa startup as well as a one-month online incubation by Plug and Play.  The runner-ups of the Arab Youth Hackathon were “Cropsense” and “Luxeed”. The former is an AI-generated  system offering insight to farmers and data to support decision making. The latter, which is another Berytech  alumnus, pioneers a chemical-free weeding robot dubbed “Ultron” eliminating the need for herbicide usage  post-planting. Both of these ideas were awarded with US$ 10,000 in grant funds to develop their project into a  startup as well as a one-month online incubation by Plug and Play.It is worth noting that the Arab Youth Hackathon was one of the key events from a competition undertaken byPepsiCo, Plug and Play, PepsiCo Foundation and the Arab Youth Center. The competition aims to drive innovationand sustainability across the Middle East and included Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE. Theinitiative brought together young entrepreneurs and startups to collectively address climate change challengesand promote sustainability in various industries. The Arab Youth Hackathon hosted 48 startups, down to onlythree at the end of the competition. Berytech played a crucial role through the Hackathon as a strategic partneralong with the Beirut Digital District which served as a venue to the event. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Bank Audi, Lebanon Weekly Monitor, 15 - 21 Jan 2024