Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum’s open innovation platform UpLink, launched a challenge to crowdsource transformative solutions to secure local food in countries impacted by low rainfall, drought, and desertification.
The ‘Food Ecosystems and Arid Climates Challenge’ is a global call for food entrepreneurs, startups, social ventures, and small-medium sized enterprises to submit solutions that incorporate low or high technologies or ancestral responses.
The winning cohort will be eligible to access $108,691 (SAR408,000) to scale and implement their venture in regions with arid climates, while enhancing their visibility and access to networking opportunities.
This is the first of two challenges focused on food systems, with a second to be launched later in 2023 on climate-smart agriculture.
The Saudi Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP)- UpLink collaboration aligns with the country’s efforts to develop innovative solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, through collaboration and cooperation.
On the sidelines of the WEF Annual Meeting 2023, the Saudi Ministry of Economy and Planning also joined the World Economic Forum’s Jobs Consortium – a coalition of CEOs, IOs, ministers and other leaders – to promote a better future of work for all by enabling job creation and job transitions.
The kingdom’s move to join the Jobs Consortium aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and its commitment to building a thriving, vibrant economy that creates new sectors, hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and cross-cutting innovation.
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