Water for Agriculture Challenge
The Water for Agriculture Challenge aims to accelerate innovation in the development of technological solutions which reduce the consumption of water in agriculture while maintaining or improving crop yield. For the launch of this first Challenge, The Mohamed bin Zayed Initiative has joined forces with two sector leading institutions:
ASPIRE, the innovation acceleration arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), and Silal Food and Technology. The AED 8 million competition, which will run up until December 2026, is open to local and international participants and will require aspiring teams to test and demonstrate their technology's applicability in the UAE and its potential for deployment in locations with similar weather and climate conditions.
The challenge is open to teams working on
innovative technologies in any of the
following categories:
Circular solutions encompassing two or more components of the above.
Alternate water supply
Water consumption reduction technologies for outdoor or indoor farming including cooling.
Cost and energy efficient water quality treatments to make groundwater fit for farming including but not limited to removal of salt.
Soil enhancement or crop modification technologies with the target to reduce water uptake.
Entries will be evaluated
against the following criteria:
Key dates
Finalists will have up to 12 months for testing
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