• By HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Suqia UAE

Innovation and research are the main drivers in providing sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions to provide clean and safe water for all, especially the most vulnerable communities. This supports global efforts to mitigate climate change and the challenges of depleted resources and population growth worldwide. Water scarcity is one of the most prominent crises that stand in the way of achieving sustainable development. Goal 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 ensures clean water and sanitation for all. Water scarcity affects over 40% of the world’s population. A new UN report has stated that 2.2 billion people worldwide still lacked safely managed drinking water services, and 3.5 billion lacked safely managed sanitation services.

Following the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE; and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the UAE continues to cooperate with its partners to address the challenge of water scarcity for development and peace. This enhances the UAE’s leadership in developing and adopting advanced technologies to support sustainable industrial development. The UAE launches local and international projects, programmes, and incentives to accelerate the adoption of green technologies, achieve climate neutrality, and support investment in research and innovation, to create a positive impact that ensures the sustainability of resources and a brighter future for current and future generations. The UAE’s initiatives have helped the country advance by five places in the annual United Nations’ Technology and Innovation Report 2023, titled ‘Opening green windows: Technological opportunities for a low-carbon world’. This consolidates the UAE’s international position in technology and innovation.

The tremendous growth in the development of technology globally over the past two decades represents an excellent opportunity for investors to utilise innovation and the latest disruptive technologies to pioneer the environmentally friendly and sustainable industries of the future. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award is one of the most prominent initiatives that provides an ideal opportunity for innovators and investors worldwide to create innovative and sustainable projects based on more efficient technologies at a lower cost in several countries. It allows them to reach a more significant number of those in need and beneficiaries, and contribute to improving the conditions of societies and the quality of life in various fields.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award. The UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia UAE), under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, is supervising the Award. The Award supports the efforts to find sustainable solutions to water scarcity and provide potable clean water to people in need around the world. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Water Award, with total prizes of USD 1 million, aims to recognise organisations, research centres, and innovators from around the world who develop innovative technologies and prototypes to produce, distribute, desalinate, and purify water using renewable energy. The aim is to develop solutions to the challenges of water scarcity facing underprivileged and afflicted communities worldwide.

The Award also consolidates the UAE and Dubai’s position as a platform for innovation, an incubator, and a destination for creative minds worldwide. The Award has gained the attention of institutions, research centres, and innovators, turning into a global platform for developing practical and sustainable solutions to the global water crisis using renewable energy. Over the past 3 cycles of the Award, we rewarded 31 winners from 22 countries for their innovative projects in water desalination and purification using renewable energy sources including solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, osmotic power, and geothermal technologies. Similarly, the 4th cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award has gained significant attention from companies, research centres, organisations, and innovators. We look forward to implementing the innovative projects that will win in this cycle. This will strengthen the role of the UAE and Suqia UAE in addressing one of the main challenges of this age and giving hope to building a better life for millions of people around the world.

Moreover, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Research and Development (R&D) Centre assesses and develops sustainable solutions for the desalination and purification of water with a primary focus on reverse osmosis, enabling the use of solar power, detecting and reducing water transmission losses, and reducing resource use by minimising brine effluent. The R&D Centre supports DEWA’s efforts to utalise the latest technologies and global practices to enhance water security and sustainability.