Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum today launched a $1 million Global Food Technology Challenge. The competition is the largest of its kind that seeks to develop innovative solutions for food production and management in the UAE.
The Global Food Technology Challenge aims to use advanced technologies and efficient tools and techniques to overcome the challenges of the agricultural sector and achieve sustainable food
production in the UAE. And, the $1 million prize money of the Challenge will be divided among four winners.
“The Global Food Technology Challenge will open new horizons for regional and global cooperation that will help create a unified vision for global food security. We look forward to the UAE being at the heart of this vision. Achieving food security is a key pillar of continued development,” HH Sheikh Mohammed said.
HH further said: “In order to find innovative solutions that would aid us in developing a sustainable agricultural system, we must invest in scientific competencies. We invite experts and creative minds both from the UAE and the world to be part of the food technology challenge.”
His Highness stressed that the ‘culture of the impossible’ adopted by the UAE helped it play a role in achieving local and regional food security. “Experts told us that our land will not be able to grow plants but we proved them wrong. From 4,000 farms in 1971, we have more than 40,000 farms today,” he noted.
“We want these innovative ideas to be at the core of quality projects in the agricultural sector, fulfilling our ambitious vision of food security and driving our national economy into the future,” HH Sheikh Mohammed said.
“We must unify our efforts and strengthen collaboration between public and private sectors and between various regional and international institutions and organisations in order to build a vision for global food security,” HH concluded.
The launch of the Challenge, organised by the Food Security Centre in partnership with economic-development group Tamkeen, was also attended by representatives from the agriculture and academic sector.
The Challenge aims to attract and encourage companies, individuals, and scientific and research institutions in the UAE and around the world to employ advanced technologies that will aid in developing innovative ideas and effective tools for food production in the UAE. It also aims to find solutions to the various local challenges facing the agricultural sector. The country imports about 90% of its food from abroad and faces many challenges to sustainable agricultural and food production.
A high-level jury consisting of international experts in technology, economy and sustainability will evaluate submissions and select the best projects in terms of efficiency, creativity, and project scalability. The winners will be announced in April 2020.
The Challenge is being supported by a number of sponsors including Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Al Dahra Group, Masdar City, The Catalyst, a startup technology accelerator based in Masdar City and New York University. The Challenge will also include a number of events and community activities aimed at raising awareness of food security in the country.
