Empowering Innovation in Urban Agriculture with Microsoft Azure

August 20, 2020

Singapore, 14 August 2020 In a bid to seek innovative and sustainable methods of increasing global food production by 70% to feed an estimated 9 billion population in 2050 amid climate change, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) partnered with Microsoft Asia Pacific to launch the Microsoft Azure Virtual Hackathon in April 2020. The Microsoft Hackathon, also in partnership with Grab, brought nearly 1,200 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) enthusiasts to tackle real-world business challenges faced by the UNDP and Grab. These developers, designers, and entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific used artificial intelligence enabled by Microsoft Azure to create solutions to solve the problem statements posed by UNDP and Grab.

Solving the urban farming puzzle

UNDP’s challenge statement for the Hackathon was provided by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and focused on mitigating the incursion of pest and disease in agriculture, particularly for urban farms.

56 teams of developers submitted solutions for this challenge and 14 were shortlisted to develop a prototype. Grounded in Singapore’s “30 by 30” goal to produce 30% of its nutrition needs domestically by 2030, this statement was also based on an ongoing global UNDP innovation initiative Cultiv@te – which has moved 31 agritech start-ups to innovate on agricultural challenges identified by 10 of UNDP’s field offices and the SFA.

The Hackathon was a timely opportunity for the UNDP Global Centre Singapore to explore other technologies that could transform the agriculture landscape, and how artificial intelligence using Microsoft Azure can be used to boost digital farming.

“Innovation and the transfer of technologies are key drivers of sustainable agriculture. Through hackathons such as this one, we hope to drive fast and frugal innovation to help improve global sustainable agriculture, especially in the Global South,” said Bradley Busetto, Director of the UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Singapore.

Ricky Kapur, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Operations, Microsoft Asia Pacific further emphasized the value of such hackathons in solving real-world business problems and in transforming industries.

“Precision agriculture has a deep impact on the per-capita income and economies across Asia Pacific, and I’m proud to see how the teams embraced artificial intelligence and design thinking to pivot the conversation from ‘improving’ to ‘transforming’ the industry. These solutions bring value to farmers and have a flow-on effect on the entire economy, so I’m grateful that UNDP is committed to sustainable methods of increasing global food production,” he said. “A platform like the Microsoft Azure Virtual Hackathon is a great opportunity for passionate enthusiasts, dedicated to solving some of the most critical problems we are facing across the planet. Food is one of the most critical needs, and the urgency with which we need to address the entire ecosystem is crucial for our sustainability.”

Challenge winner: AgroVision

The winners of the Virtual Hackathon were selected and announced on August 6, 2020. AgroVision, a team of five students from the National University of Singapore were declared winners for the UNDP challenge. Their solution is an integrated farm health management tool that leverages machine learning and IoT to improve the yield and quality of crops from urban farms in high-density cities.

The AgroVision tool allows farmers and policymakers to make better informed, data-driven decisions. The platform detects weeds early and assesses if plants or crops are in poor health. The algorithm collects data on plants and their environment and provides insights to farmers. This means that they can manage pests and diseases better.

AgroVision was awarded with 3,000 USD from Microsoft and will now work with the UNDP Global Centre under the Cultiv@te initiative, as well as the SFA, to explore how this solution can be applied to urban farms in Singapore.

The Virtual Hackathon is the first of many collaborations between Microsoft and the UNDP Global Centre. With the tools, technologies and expertise that Microsoft is able to provide in empowering digital transformation of the agricultural industry, and UNDP’s experience in international development projects working with farmers on the ground, this partnership accelerates the development of innovative agritech that can shape the future of sustainable urban farming and transform the industry.

About the UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development

The Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development is a joint initiative by the Government of Singapore and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which aims to identify and co-create technological and digital solutions for sustainable development, particularly in the areas of smart cities, sustainable and digital agriculture, and sustainable finance.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Media Contacts

--- Image caption ---

--- Article text goes here ---