BANGKOK, May 23 (Bernama): Two engineers from Thailand stood out among 28 developers from across the Asia-Pacific region, winning the 2022 APEC App Challenge with their creative app that could help find healthy meal choices and reduce food wastage.
The duo, Palakon Kotchapansompote and Peerawit Tungwongsin, created the Kitchen@Venture, a digital tool designed for consumers and restaurant owners that offers healthy meal choices from local, high-value producers and suggests quality meals.
Users can take a photo of food in their fridge, upload it on the app and receive suggestions of healthy alternatives based on what is available.
Second prize went to Agri Automations app created by Michael Bauer and Matt Cabanag from Australia, a tool that helps diagnose crop diseases where users only need to upload a photo on a mobile phone.
Third prize went to Daanish Husain and Brandon Him from the United States, who developed Sprout, an app that connects and groups farmers in order to increase revenue by creating economies of scale.
A total of 28 developers in 14 teams from 12 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies - Australia; Brunei; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the Philippines; the United States; and Viet Nam - took part in the competition.
In a statement, the APEC Secretariat said the winning app successfully met this year’s challenge by demonstrating a new and exceptionally creative digital solution that helps to promote inclusive growth and the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy - a vision that Thailand is promoting as part of its recovery strategy towards more inclusive, balanced and sustainable growth.
In its sixth year, the 2022 APEC App Challenge invited young developers and digital entrepreneurs from across the region to build new mobile and web tools that can help promote growth among APEC’s eco-friendly, small and micro-agricultural farms and entrepreneurs in the sustainable agri-food business.
Executive Director of the APEC Secretaria Dr Rebecca Sta Maria said the App Challenge is an innovation to engage with the youth and to show how technology can be used to bridge development gaps.
"It is just a beginning. We also need to provide an avenue for the developers to grow their ideas,” she said.
Meanwhile, Scott Beaumont President of Google, Asia-Pacific, which provided support to the initiative, said the APEC App Challenge showcases the incredible talent around the region. - Bernama
