We are looking for young people from Latin America and the Caribbean who are driving innovation in their communities. Submit your digital solution and gain access to funding, expert mentorship, and advanced training in artificial intelligence to scale your impact.
We all know the story: rural areas face tough challenges, such as climate change, lack of internet access, and difficulties selling their produce. That’s why many talented young people end up seeking opportunities in the cities. But we know you have the potential to change this: no one understands your community better or has your knack for using technology.
The 2026 Rural Nexus Award was created to help bring your ideas to life. If you’re between the ages of 18 and 35, we want you to be a key player in the digital transformation. We’re looking for young people who aren’t just dreaming of a better rural community—they’re already building it with technology. You are the driving force behind making the countryside more modern, inclusive, and vibrant.
The 10 selected solutions will participate in a comprehensive program designed to amplify their impact in rural areas.
The 10 winning initiatives will receive seed capital to be used for direct investment in equipment, software, licenses, or technical resources to establish their digital solution in the region.
The 10 winners will receive forty hours of personalized mentoring. Experts will help you refine your processes, connect with the innovation ecosystem, and develop valuable partnerships.
The 80 young people with the highest scores will win a online course on Artificial Intelligence and blockchain. In addition, the 10 winners will receive a in-person course on business for smart agriculture.
Check to see if you or your team meet the three basic eligibility requirements to apply for the 2026 Nexus Rural Award.
You must be between the ages of 18 and 35 when you apply. If you are applying as a team, please designate a representative who meets this age requirement.
You must be a national of or have official residency in one of the thirty-three countries that make up the Latin American and Caribbean region.
You must demonstrate a direct link to rural areas through your place of residence, family background, or productive or community work.
Many types of digital technologies and tools are eligible for the Nexus Rural Award.
Find the one that’s right for you!
The field connected to your screen
It involves using physical devices connected to the internet that collect real-time data. It means stopping the guesswork and starting to monitor your field with precision using basic sensors or even commercial drones.
Practical example: Fly an affordable drone over your crop to see from above which areas are dry or have pests, or place a low-cost sensor in the ground that sends you a message on your cell phone when it really needs to be watered.
Your Business Secure Online
This allows you to use tools or store your business information directly online, without relying on your phone’s memory. If you lose your phone, your business remains intact.
Practical example: Have your entire cooperative keep track of daily sales in a shared Google Sheet. Everyone can view and update the sheet from their own phones at different farms at the same time.
The digital seal of origin
It is a virtual record that cannot be faked. In our region, it is widely used to add value to export products by demonstrating that they are ethically produced, organic, and of verified origin.
Practical example: Sell your coffee or honey with a QR code on the packaging. When customers scan it with their cell phones, they see the whole true and verified story: who in your community harvested it, on what day, and that a fair price was paid.
Using information to make better decisions
This means gathering a lot of scattered data (on weather, market prices, and past yields) and using it to understand what’s coming. It’s about staying one step ahead of the market.
Practical example: Free apps that tell you what the rainfall forecast is for your municipality this year and what price tomatoes sold for last month, so you can decide exactly when to plant.
Stop doing repetitive work
This means using small programs or tools to handle those tedious digital tasks that eat up your time, allowing you to focus on creating and selling.
Practical example: Set up advanced auto-replies on your business’s WhatsApp to serve customers at any time, or link a web form so that orders are automatically added to your delivery list.
A digital assistant that learns
These are systems or apps that can “understand” information and provide you with quick recommendations. It’s like having a technical advisor on your phone to help you solve everyday problems.
Practical example: Use a free app where you take a photo of a diseased leaf, and within seconds, it compares thousands of images to tell you what the pest is and suggest how to treat it with the resources you have on hand.
New ways to connect and sell
These are apps, websites, or virtual spaces designed to connect people directly, breaking down the isolation and long distances characteristic of rural areas.
Practical example: Join a virtual marketplace in your region or create a simple online store where young producers can sell their food directly to end consumers or restaurants in the city, bypassing middlemen.
To apply for the Nexus Rural Award, your project must address at least one of the following areas of family farming:
Digital solutions that make financing more accessible, facilitate commercial transactions, and connect smallholder farmers with formal markets.
Platforms, apps, and digital tools that enable farmers to access technical expertise, improve their production practices, and innovate their business models.
Digital solutions that enhance the sustainability of the agricultural sector, improve production processes, reduce costs, or add value to products or services for farmers.
Solutions that enable producers to anticipate and facilitate data-driven, real-time decision-making to respond to climate threats, pests, diseases, and other risk factors.
Digital solutions used in business management that impact the organizational performance of cooperatives and smallholder farmer associations.
Solutions that connect family farms directly with consumers, reduce intermediation, optimize logistics, and facilitate access to more profitable and sustainable markets.
Digital technologies that connect family farms with agribusiness and food processing, offering solutions that ensure food safety standards, product traceability, processing quality, and overall product quality.
To ensure that funding and mentoring have the greatest possible impact, we categorize applications based on their stage of digital development. Explore our three stages and find out where your business model stands today.
“Innovation through usage”. You adapt and use open-source digital tools, social media, or existing platforms to reorganize production, organizational, or business processes.
“Functional prototypes”. You have digital solutions that have been tested in a real-world production setting with family farmers, and you have preliminary evidence of their impact.
“Verifiable results”. Your solution has a defined business model and possesses the technical, operational, and financial capacity to expand into new markets.
Answer these 3 quick questions to find out your Technology Readiness Level and see if you qualify for the 2026 Nexus Rural Award.
The rural innovation ecosystem is ready to help you succeed. Review the final details and start your application today.
