What it was
On November 17 and 18, 2023, the University of Piura (UDEP) hosted the Northern Region Innovation Hackathon, organized together with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the UDEP Innovation Lab and the University Innovation Network (RUI) — northern node, with the backing of Concytec.
The northern node brought together three universities: UDEP, the National University of Trujillo and the National University Hermilio Valdizán (UNHEVAL), which is where I study.
The challenge
Thirty students from Huánuco, Trujillo and Piura were organized into 10 finalist teams. Over two intense days we worked on solutions for three focus areas: agroindustry, climate change and governance, using IoT, immersive technologies and mobile development.
Between work sessions, facilitators from Apple, Restaurant.pe and the UDEP Hub ran workshops on team building, problem definition, user experience, prototyping, the Canvas model and impact pitching.
The results
The winning projects showed how much you can build in 48 hours:
- Arariway Tech — an IoT-based optimized irrigation system to reduce water consumption.
- Preventech — an immersive educational tool about dengue prevention.
- PeruBerry — an automated golden berry (aguaymanto) dryer.
What I took from it
Beyond the technology, the hackathon was a reminder that good solutions start with a well-defined problem and a clear understanding of the people who will use them. Working under pressure with a multidisciplinary team — and shipping a working prototype in two days — was exactly the kind of hands-on experience that complements what I study in Industrial Engineering and the AI work I do on my own.