Scaling solutions to strengthen the adaptability, efficiency and long-term sustainability of water systems.
This Challenge calls for innovative solutions to enable water resilience across infrastructure, agri-food, tech and energy systems. Ten winners will receive an even share of CHF 1.75 million financial award, generously made available by HCL Group.
Taking action on water resilience is essential to ensure economic stability, food security and public health in the face of growing global pressures. Water resilience refers to the capacity of water systems (natural, built and institutional) to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses while continuing to provide essential services.
Water stress affects every sector: cities, communities and businesses depend on reliable, sustainable water supplies. Yet water-intensive processes, such as AI and semiconductor manufacturing, are increasing demand. By 2027, data centers alone are projected to consume over 660 billion liters of water annually—enough to meet the needs of a city of one million people (Li, P., Yang, J., Islam, M. A., & Ren, S. 2023).
Climate change worsens risks through extreme weather, droughts and pollution, threatening rivers that support ecosystems and economies. In the past decade, 9 out of 10 natural disasters were water-related (UNDRR, 2022), and groundwater is being withdrawn 3.5 times faster than it replenishes in key aquifers in India, China and the U.S (Kumar, M., Jangam, C. L., & Singh, S. K., 2022).
Addressing these challenges requires innovation and collaboration across governments, industries and communities. The Water Resilience Challenge aims to strengthen resilience by improving sustainability, reducing vulnerabilities and enabling adaptable solutions to secure water systems for an uncertain future. There is an urgent need for innovation that addresses interconnected water resilience challenges in a systemic and holistic way and this challenge focuses on building resilience across four key sectors: infrastructure, agri-food, technology and energy.
To strengthen infrastructure resilience, the challenge seeks solutions that enhance water systems, including grey, blue and green infrastructure, to better withstand extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, floods and stormwater, while addressing infrastructure gaps and growing demand. In agri-food, the challenge seeks transformative approaches such as improved irrigation, regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions that conserve, reuse and replenish surface and groundwater across food systems. For the tech and energy sectors, it seeks innovations that optimize water use and reduce risks in water-intensive industries like AI data centres and semiconductor manufacturing, alongside improving water efficiency in energy generation and exploring energy recovery from wastewater.
By targeting these areas, the challenge aims to improve long-term sustainability, reduce vulnerabilities, and foster adaptable, integrated systems to achieve a water-safe future for all.
The focus areas of this challenge include:
· Strengthening infrastructure resilience
· Rethinking agri-food water use
· Optimizing water resources in the tech sector and energy systems
See the FOCUS AREAS tab for a detailed description of each of these focus areas.
