Saudi’s Ministry of Economy and Planning joins forces with UpLink to address food insecurity in arid climates

Saudi’s Ministry of Economy and Planning joins forces with UpLink to address food insecurity in arid climates

Davos-Switzerland: – Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) in collaboration with UpLink today launched an innovation challenge designed to crowdsource transformative solutions to enhance food security in countries impacted by low rainfall, drought, and desertification.

MEP and UpLink, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) open innovation platform, made the announcement at the Forums’ 2023 Annual Meeting in Davos as part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop innovative solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, through collaboration and cooperation.

The Food Ecosystems and Arid Climates Challenge is a global call for food entrepreneurs, start-ups, social ventures, and small-medium sized enterprises to submit solutions that incorporate low or high technologies. The winning cohort will be eligible to access CHF100,000 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.

Announcing the challenge at a press conference, His Excellency Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said: “Our world faces a wide range of major socioeconomic challenges, and food security is at the top of