The United Arab Emirates continues to strengthen its position as a global leader in innovation, particularly in addressing water scarcity. The UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia UAE), under the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, supervises the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award. This award promotes projects and technologies that focus on producing, desalinating, and purifying water using renewable energy sources.
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Suqia UAE, emphasized the importance of innovation under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “Under the wise leadership…the UAE places great importance on advancing efforts to develop innovative solutions that enhance global water security,” he stated.
The award offers total prizes worth USD 1 million across four main categories: Innovative Projects Award, Innovative Research and Development Award, Innovative Individual Award, and Innovative Crisis Solutions Award. Since its inception, it has encouraged researchers and institutions worldwide to address water scarcity through sustainable solutions.
In its fourth cycle in 2025, the award recognized 12 winners from eight countries. Among them were Green Waste Solutions Trading DMCC from the UAE and Kumulus SAS from France in the Innovative Projects category. STEM SAS from France and Khalifa University from the UAE were honored in the Innovative Research and Development category. The Innovative Crisis Solutions Award was given to SkyJuice Foundation Inc from Australia. In the Individual category, Professor Guihua Yu from the US and Zhenyuan Xu from China were acknowledged for their contributions.
Previous cycles have also seen numerous winners recognized for their contributions to water technology innovation. In 2023, notable winners included Agua Para el Pueblo (Honduras) and South Asian Forum for Environment (India). In 2020, Khalifa University (UAE) received recognition alongside Liquinex Group PTE Ltd (Singapore). The inaugural cycle in 2017 highlighted projects focusing on desalination and purification.
