On 25 June 2025, Mr. Kamel Baddari, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, oversaw this afternoon, the conclusion of the “Challenge Agri” hackathon activities at the “martyr Abdelhafid Ihaddadene” Hub in Sidi Abdellah. The event was organised by the National Higher School of Artificial Intelligence ENSIA, and the National Higher School of Agriculture ENSA, in collaboration with the Hamma Test Garden. 125 students from various Algerian universities took part in this four-day event.

This hackathon resulted in several high-quality achievements, including:

• The creation and the labelling of a local database, the first of its kind, containing over 180 000 images. This database will be made accessible to researchers and entrepreneurs to support smart agriculture-related research and start-up projects,
• Developing artificial intelligence prototypes based entirely on the collected local data,
• Finding solutions to a number of problems presented by the Hamma Test Garden.

Besides the technical aspect of the hackathon, emphasis was placed on developing students’ skills in various key areas, such as project management, entrepreneurship, and working as a part of a team under pressure. The event also promoted a culture of innovation aimed at solving real-world problems.