Winners of the AgriTech4Uzbekistan Innovation Challenge Announced

The online Demo Day showcased the achievements of the 10 innovation teams who successfully graduated from the initiative’s comprehensive acceleration program, hailing from Uzbekistan, India, Tanzania, Poland, and Egypt. In addition, the event offered insights into Uzbekistan’s innovation ecosystem via welcome remarks from project partners, a keynote address from Jamshid Abduzuxurov, Agriculture Production Department Head at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan, and presentations from two guest growth-stage start-ups – Pastoral and AI-GENIX INTERNATIONAL PVT LD.

In the event’s main programing, the ten teams pitched their agri-tech solutions to a Selection Committee representing project partners, each aiming to secure recognition as winners of the AgriTech4Uzbekistan Innovation Challenge, eligibility for post-acceleration support, and consideration for a share of the equity-free grant. Following their pitches, teams then fielded questions from the Committee and audience, after which the Committee evaluated each solution based on defined criteria, including applicability to Uzbekistan’s most critical agrifood system challenges, relevance to CGIAR science, novelty, sustainability, business model scalability and growth potential, team capacity, and acceleration program participation.