Team of students from India, Ethiopia and Nepal takes home $200,000 grand prize to advance their app, “GardenMate”
Two Indian students are part of a team from Augustana University, South Dakota, named the grand prize winners of the 2022 Call for Code Global Challenge to use technology to create a greener future.
Deepak Krishnaa Govindarajan, 25 and Prana Mohanty, 25 from India, Manusmriti Budhathoki, 24, from Nepal and Abemelech Mesfin Belachew, 24, were named the grand prize winners at an award ceremony on, Dec 6, in New York.
Read: Abinaya Dinesh among Apple’s Swift Student Challenge winners (June 1, 2021)
The students will take home $200,000 to advance their app, “GardenMate,” along with solution implementation support from IBM and the Call for Code ecosystem.
GardenMate targets the problem of food waste with a marketplace for excess produce, as well as an educational platform for sustainable garden practices.
The students were notified in mid-November that their team, “GardenMate,” was a top five finalist among thousands of entries across the globe.
Made up of international students of multiple majors — business administration, computer science & software engineering, data science, economics, finance and mathematics, the group also recognized the importance of Call for Code’s mission.
“If we can all come together as a society, we can definitely solve this generation’s issues, like global warming,” Govindarajan said. “I feel like Call for Code is making that happen. All the participants — not just the finalists — did something to help sustainability, and that’s what matters.”
This is the fifth Call for Code Global Challenge and second consecutive year that an Augustana team has made it to a final round.
“Solving such big problems seems attainable, but we just need to focus on what our team can do about it and do our best,” Mohanty said.
“And, when everybody does their best, the only outcome that I can see is success. But, let’s say that we did not succeed — that does not mean we stopped. We are still motivated, so we just keep going until we succeed.”
“Winning (is) a game changer for the app,” Belachew said. “The next step is incorporating machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence). Then, we can get more people working on the project. If this project goes worldwide, or even locally, it’s actually doing something good, so I’m really excited about that.”
The students found support from Augustana Call for Code Faculty Representative Dr. Matthew Willard, who helped them land on the idea for GardenMate.
Read: Two Indians From Augustana University Win The 2022 Call For Code Global Challenge (December 13, 2022)
The Global Challenge is aimed at how technology can improve sustainable production, consumption, and management of resources, reduce pollution creation, and protect biodiversity to create a greener future.
As part of the 5th annual Call for Code Global Challenge, teams of developers and problem solvers were called upon to leverage open innovation and develop technology solutions that address specific global sustainability problems in unique, clearly demonstrable ways.