The Innovation & Design Thinking Academy in conjunction with Our Voice as Light organized a 72-hour Designathon for the SDGs tagged ‘Innovate4Impact’ on Friday, July 9 to Sunday, July 11, 2023 at the UI Hotels, University of Ibadan.
The designathon which brought together youths between the ages of 18-30 was organized to promote awareness and understanding of the SDGs among youth, encourage collaboration and teamwork, and celebrate the creativity and ingenuity of young people in designing sustainable solutions. The focus SDGs were Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education and Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions namely SDGs 2,3,4 and 16 respectively.
For the designathon, participants were selected from a pool of individual applications, formed into 7 teams of 4 members each, and were exposed to design thinking sessions to uncover the root causes of problems, and design proper, relevant, and sustainable solutions to these problems. For the first two days, participants were walked through the design thinking, user journey, prototyping and pitch deck presentation processes to enable them identify problems around their SDGs of choice, and then, ideate suitable solutions to these problems. Among the facilitators were Mr. Yusuf Babatunde; Co-Founder & COO, TIDA, Mr. Abdulhammed Babatunde; Co-Founder & CTO, TIDA, Mr. Mubarak Lawal, Ms. Folasade Olajuwon, Mr. Oluwakorede Adedeji and Mr. Opeyemi Bashirudeen.
The pitch and presentation of ideas held on the final day of the designathon, after 2 days of intense exposure to quality design thinking sessions, to present their solutions to a panel of judges. The judges were Dr. Simpa Dania; a digital health consultant, Adejoke Lasisi; Director, Planet 3R, Mr. Ibrahim Oredola; Founder, SkillNG and Dr. Saheed Ayoola; Founder, RAIN.
After the pitch, Team Healthnovate emerged winner for their software and ioT device, MediSync, an innovation to revolutionize the management of chronic illnesses. The second runner-up, Team BreakFree developed a mobile application to support individuals in reducing substance addiction, and the third runner-up, SafeCity developed a mobile application for real-time verification and reporting of crime and safety tips. The winner, first runner-up and second runner-up were rewarded with cash prizes of N300,000, N200,000 and N100,000 respectively, while the last four teams were rewarded with N50,000 each.
Congratulations to all the participants, winners, the steering committee namely Ms. Bilqis Ayeni, Mr. Yusuf Babatunde, Mr. Abdulhammed Babatunde, Ms. Angela Edhere, Mr. Mubarak Alimi and volunteer, Mr. Covenant Odedele who were all involved in making this designathon a success, and ensuring we are every step closer to achieving the SDGs.
Written by: Covenant Odedele
