Two students from Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, a Qatar Foundation-partnered university, took home the top prize at the Qatar Development Bank’s FoodTech competition. Mohammad Fadhel Annan, Lujain al Mansoori and others created an idea of 3D-printed veggies, a farming alternative that could boost food security in places such as Qatar, where arable land is scarce. Qatar Development Bank hosted the Business Incubation & Acceleration Hackathon. Annan Al Mansoori and Annan won the FoodTech category. They received 25,000 QR to invest in the idea.
QDB’s Business Incubation and Acceleration Hackathon was designed to empower entrepreneurs in Qatar to share their ideas and creative solutions to address challenges in digital transformation across a variety of industries. The 2023 Edition covered Fintech and SportsTech industries as well as FashionTech. It featured solutions for Enabling customers experiences and Operational Solutions to Digital Transformation across a variety of sectors.
Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q, was impressed by the ingenuity of Annan and Al Mansoori’s idea: “We encourage our students at CMU-Q to apply the knowledge they learn here to create solutions that will have a big impact. Congratulations to Mohammad and Lujain for such an innovative approach to food security.” For the competition, Annan and Al Mansoori developed their idea to use a combination of artificially grown vegetable cells and UV-sensitive 3D printer ink to print vegetables. The pitch included plans for 3D printers that could accommodate biological matter, and a model printed carrot.
Dr. Hamad Mejegheer, Executive Director of Advisory and Incubation at QDB, emphasized the importance of the competition, which “represents a continuation of our efforts to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem that embraces innovators and pioneers who add value to our diversified and knowledge-based economy in line with the strategic objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
Both students will be starting their third year at CMU Q in the information systems department. They plan to continue developing their ideas as they study. Mohammed Al-Sadi is an information systems teaching assistant who served as the project mentor.
Annan has worked on adapting 3D printing technology to the production of food. “We have spent a lot of time developing a CAD model for a specialized 3D printer that can use edible inks to print food products. As each layer is printed, UV light solidifies the edible ink, and in the end, you have a vegetable.”
Al Mansoori has high hopes for the future of food production. “We could potentially print food in bulk, greatly reducing the time and money it takes to grow fruits and vegetables. It’s limitless what we can do.”
After their successful pitch at the QDB competition, the students have been offered a seat in QDB’s startup program, where they will have access to experts and mentors to guide their progress.
Carnegie Mellon University offers undergraduate programs in four different fields in Qatar: business administration, information systems, computer science and biological sciences. Students are encouraged work across disciplines in order to create projects with a real world impact.
Source: qatar.cmu.edu