XPrize Launches Desalination $119 Million, 5-Year Competition

XPrizes have been driving innovation through competition since they were founded in 1995.

• The Ansari-sponsored XPrize launched the commercial space tourist industry.
• The Google Lunar XPrize inspired private companies to send robotic landers to the Moon in return for a big cash reward. No company one the prize but Intuitive Machines’ lander, Odysseus, was one of the entries. Intuitive couldn’t meet the deadline but still went ahead with the project and on February 22, 2024, landed near the Moon’s south pole, albeit tilted over because of a broken landing strut.
• The Qualcomm $10 million XPrize challenged companies to build the equivalent of the Star Trek Tricorder, a multipurpose scanning and medical diagnostic tool that was featured in so many of the science fiction’s many episodes. The winner was Basil Leaf’s DxtER, which has onboard sensors and software algorithms to diagnose 34 health conditions that include diabetes, atrial fibrillation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, urinary tract infection, sleep apnea, leukocytosis, pertussis, stroke, tuberculosis and pneumonia.
• Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation have sponsored the Carbon Removal XPrize to tackle climate change by rebalancing the Earth’s carbon cycle. It has been ongoing for the last four years with teams from across the planet inventing and demonstrating solutions to pull carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and oceans and sequester it. A demonstration working solution must remove 1,000 tons per year and be scaleable and cost-effective to grow to a million. From there the goal is to implement these solutions to achieve gigaton CO2 removal annually. The prize has considered natural CO2 capture solutions, direct air capture (DAC), ocean capture, mineralization capture and anything else that would achieve net negative emissions. The $100 million total has already awarded 15 milestone prizes to entrants, each receiving $1 million. This month a panel will select the top 20 finalists to fight for the $50 million grand prize with the three runner-ups splitting $30 million.

XPrizes have challenged the status quo and conventional thinking. They have inspired new technologies and disrupted the old. That is what the latest XPrize just announced hopes to do. The focus is on solving the growing freshwater scarcity crisis.

Today, 80% of the global population faces freshwater scarcity. By 2030, freshwater demand will see a 40% supply deficit. Today we are more than 8 billion. By mid-century, we will be 10. The technologies in place today are inadequate to meet the supply challenge. Where we are desalinating ocean water, the technologies are expensive and polluting.

Called the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, it is a 5-year competition with $119 million on the line. The prize hopes to encourage the development of cost-effective, reliable desalination solutions to make more than 96% of Earth’s saltwater a source of fresh water.

In its words, the prize hopes to encourage the invention of “new desalination solutions to enable future-proof water supply for communities and ecosystems. These solutions must be scalable, cost-effective, reliable, and resilient in a changing climate. They should demonstrate enhanced environmental sustainability across energy and materials and minimize harm to marine life.” 

Named after the President of the United Arab Emirates, the prize purse sponsor, the competition includes a Track A and B.

• Track A – the winning team will reliably and sustainably generate one million litres of potable water per day (1,000 m3/ day) from seawater for a year through its desalination system. It will do the volume at a cost below a target benchmark to ensure global accessibility. Registration closes on April 30, 2025.
• Track B – the winning team will create a novel reverse osmosis membrane that can operate effectively for 10 years to turn seawater into drinking water. Registration closes on February 28, 2025.

To enter the competition go to the XPrize competition portal where you find an overview and frequently asked questions (FAQ). Already, 19 teams have entered but the site states that “a winning idea can come from anyone, anywhere.”

Guidelines have been published but the XPrize organizers have asked for public comment until June 1, 2024. Feedback and questions can be submitted to waterscarcity@xprize.org.