PANO - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) has recently launched the YSEALI World of Food Innovation Challenge.

Southeast Asian young people will give their innovative ideas to boost regional food security. (Photo for illustration)

The competition aims at collecting innovative technology solutions to some of the region’s most complex challenges in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries. It was launched following US President Barack Obama’s announcement of the YSEALI Innovation Challenge at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Sunnylands, California. 

The YSEALI World of Food Innovation Challenge is being implemented by the USAID Connecting the Mekong through Education and Training program and the USAID-managed ASEAN-U.S. Partnership for Good Governance, Equitable and Sustainable Development and Security project in partnership with technology giants Cisco and Intel.

Ten semi-finalist teams will fly to Singapore to participate in a boot camp-style training hosted by Cisco and Intel Corporation to assist the teams to develop their solutions. The grand prize for the top three teams will be a study trip to technology hubs in the United States and a visit to Washington, D.C.

Chung Anh