Page 43 - CKA E- YEARBOOK 2024 NEW

CONRAD CHALLENGE: STERLING INNOVATION TOWARDS
ERADICATING HUNGER (SDG 2)

Team CKA Among Top Ten Contestants Wins Over $1 Million Scholarship Grants

City of Knowledge Academy, Ijebu-Ode who came 3rd at the Nigeria CONRAD

Challenge 2023, was again among the finalists at the 2024 edition of the Challenge,
where they made five unique pitches. In five different teams, their projects this year
were in the health/nutrition and energy/environment categories - two out of four broad

categories of the Challenge. The projects were GreenTech, Slasher, Agroweb,
Fertigator, and Agrosecurity.

The Conrad Challenge was founded by Nancy Conrad in honor of her late husband,

astronaut, innovator, and entrepreneur, Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. The Conrad
Challenge is an annual, multi-phase innovation and entrepreneurial competition that
brings together a dynamic community of innovators and entrepreneurs, driving a
collaborative movement to develop extraordinary and viable solutions to benefit our

world in one of four areas: Aerospace & Aviation, Cyber Technology & Security, Energy
& Environment, and Health & Nutrition.

For their GreenTech project, the lead pitch in its category, the students developed an

innovative approach to yam farming, creating a robust alternative to plant yam tubers.
This alternative, called “yam seeds,” will allow farmers to plant yams without the use
of yam tubers which has been tested to be a more viable approach that increases the

yield of yam tubers.

The GreenTech project and the other projects pitched by the CKA team this year are
aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) to “end hunger,

achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.”
Not only did the students deliver noteworthy pitches for their innovative projects, they
also displayed resilience in the face of critical setbacks. They were recognized by the

CONRAD 2024 panelists for this.

While delivering the pitch for one of the projects, a student from the team noted that
they had to work late into the night carrying out repairs on some of their project

equipment, which got damaged during a minor road accident on their journey to the
CONRAD Challenge venue. Undaunted by the setback, the students thrived in high
spirits and delivered riveting pitches.