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Winners have emerged from the Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in collaboration with Eko Innovation Centre.
The winners, Team Power Bit Crunchers from the hardware category and Team Zeena Platform from the Software category, have earned themselves the combined prize money of N10 million.
The winners and runners-up will also get working space at Eko Innovation Centre, while 10 finalists will get mentorship opportunities, among other consolation prizes.
Olonma Ibrahim and Peter Okonma represented the hardware team while Oluwasemi Oreoluwa and Adenitire Ayonikun represented the Software Team at the event.
On the significant of the initiative, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said: “As you are aware, a key pillar of our administration’s THEMES agenda is to make Lagos a 21st century economy and this Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon fits perfectly as it combines innovation, creativity and local capacity to deliver solutions that will improve access to electricity in Lagos.”
He said the settings, mood and aura at the ceremony “inspires creativity and innovation,” and that he saw in the participants vibrant energetic youthfulness “that inspires hope of brighter and bigger roles that technology and digitisation would play in the country.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu said his administration would continue to support the initiative and that the outcomes of the programme has inspired his administration to do even more to drive local capacity and find homegrown solutions, while taking advantage of global opportunities to solve the challenges.
“The young people in Lagos and Nigeria have proven to be hardworking and brilliant and we will do all we can to support them through our various ministries, agencies, enabling policies and incentives,” he said.
He encouraged all participants, especially those that were not declared winners not to give up.
Doja Ekeruche, advisory board member of Eko Innovation Centre, said curating the Hackathon is in line with the centre’s purpose of leveraging innovation and technology in solving poverty and other challenges in Africa.
She said the output of the Hackathon will contribute significantly to solving the challenges of the power sector while also serving as an inspiration to local tech-talents in Nigeria to develop innovative solutions that will transform the future of Nigeria.
