NTRC overpowers 312 Latin American & Caribbean submissions to win FRIDA Award of USD$18,500

​NTRC overcomes 312 submissions from Latin America & the Caribbean, and won USD$18,500 with its ‘Schools’ Internet of Things Weather Monitoring Station’ project in this year’s FRIDA Award technical category. The funds won will likely go towards the implementation of their project. The Schools’ ‘Internet of Things project’ involves building a weather station at select schools in Dominica, and developing a web platform where meteorological data will be posted and made freely available. The students and teachers, with support from local technical volunteers, will use hardware such as rasberry pi boards, arduino, and other climatic sensors and cameras, with software which will be developed by leveraging open source solutions that are already available.
 
This will require students to develop knowledge in python, php, and web server technology, as well as other internet protocols. The software will allow for recording data locally and posting it to the school’s website, and also to a common website. It is anticipated that the experience gained will motivate and inspire the students to explore other projects, and continue the building process.
 
Craig Nesty, Executive Director of the NTRC said, “the NTRC is thrilled and overwhelmed to have been selected as the winner of the most technology innovative project in Innovation for Internet Development submitted to FRIDA this year. We are encouraged that the selection committee found our project worthy. We recognize there were many project submissions from several Latin American and Caribbean countries, which, I am sure, were truly impressive and also worthy of this esteemed prize. We shall be eternally grateful that our School IoT project was selected, and we are very excited to move towards the implementation phase, as we believe the exposure that will gained by Dominican children, from different and varied backgrounds, will impact their lives significantly”.
 
According to FRIDA jurors, Schools Internet of Things (IoT) Weather Monitoring Stations is an experimental and innovative project, that combines the Internet of Things and training for students, to respond to the challenges of climate change, and Caribbean countries’ exposure to natural disasters. Since 2004, FRIDA distributed more than US $1.67 million to over 120 innovative initiatives and projects in 19 countries, throughout the region, contributing to the promotion of Internet development in Latin America and the Caribbean.