Submissions open for Zayed Sustainability Prize 2021

Global organisations and high schools have been invited to submit their entries until May 21

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. 13 JANUARY 2020. The Zayed Sustainability Awards held at ADNEC as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. The winners from Top row center is H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin ZaShow more

The UAE has issued a fresh call to entrepreneurs and start-ups to submit their proposals for the next round of the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

Global organisations and high schools can apply for next year's prize through the online portal until May 21.

Applicants should offer long-term solutions and demonstrate their intent of improving access to essential products or services across five main categories: health, food, energy, water and global high schools.

A 12-member jury will shortlist the best projects based on their overall impact, innovation, and inspiration. The award ceremony will be held in January next year.

Through direct funding, the annual award supports social initiatives that harness new technologies to change lives for the better.

Previous winners of the prize include start-ups that have helped combat plastic waste, reduced spread of disease and improved crop yield for farmers in rural communities.

This month, 10 winners were named winners of the 2020 prize, which saw a record-breaking 2,373 proposals submitted from 129 countries.

Four winners from health, food, energy and water categories each took home a Dh2.2 million ($600,000) cash prize to fund their ongoing work, while six schools received Dh336,000 ($100,000) each.

One of the winning projects included a mobile application developed by a teen from Ghana.

In 2018, Mustapha Haqq set out to improve the lives of local farmers by helping them identify and treat plant disease through their smartphones.

To date, he has helped mitigate widespread damage to farm produce in several communities in his home country.

Now entering its 13th year, the prize has rewarded 86 winners whose solutions or school projects have directly and indirectly affected 335 million people around the world.

“We are confident the prize will continue to attract more of the world’s most dedicated innovators to submit their entries in support of resolving the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and director general of the prize.