2025 GPIW $1.8M prize calls on global innovators to address the water crisis

Wazoku’s Innocentive open innovation community to crowdsource solutions to address water access and sustainability

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, July 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Global Prize for Innovation in Water (GPIW) has launched its 2025 programme to recognise the ideas, innovators, and organisations that are helping to solve one of the world’s greatest challenges: access to sustainable, affordable and scalable water resources.

GPIW is managed by SWA (Saudi Water Authority), which is investing $1.8m in awards, pilot program value, and subsequent business support for successful prize winners.

Open to worldwide applicants, the prize is once again being powered by Wazoku, the innovation scale-up, via its Innocentive open innovation community – a crowd of more than 700,000 expert problem solvers including scientists, researchers, engineers, startups and academics.

This year’s challenge is focused on futureproofing global water supply and increasing access to water through innovative and disruptive approaches, with a strong emphasis on technology, policy, and sustainability.

“Water scarcity is a global crisis affecting more than two billion people – one of the planet’s most pressing issues,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. “We’re proud to support GPIW again, harnessing our Innocentive community to find transformative ideas that can scale and deliver real, lasting impact.”

The GPIW programme is designed to be open, inclusive and simple to enter. Submissions are welcomed from startups, scaleups, research teams, engineers, NGOs, universities, enterprises and unaffiliated individuals. The application process takes around 30 minutes from registration to submission, and all entrants will retain ownership of their IP throughout the process, including during any potential piloting phase.

“Last year’s competition met our greatest expectations, with some truly remarkable entries in response to the Challenges we set,” said a spokesperson for the GPIW 2025. “We want to do even better in 2025 and, via our partnership with Wazoku and its global expert community, can bring together the world’s brightest minds to shape the future of water innovation.”

Winners will be invited to attend the Innovation Driven Water Summit in Saudi Arabia this November – a fully funded, three-day gathering of global experts, investors, and policy leaders. They’ll also be offered pilot opportunities, business support, and access to the Saudi Water Innovation Center (SWIC).

Now in its third year, the GPIW programme has already made global impact. In 2024, more than 540 entries were received from 56 countries and over 80 universities and research institutions, with more than SAR 10 million (USD $2.6 million) awarded to winning teams.

The Innocentive solver community supporting the programme brings deep expertise across disciplines including engineering, life sciences, climate tech, IT and policy. More than half of its members hold advanced degrees, such as Masters, PhDs, or Post-Doctorates. In GPIW 2024, several members from the Innocentive solver community were successfully awarded: in water quality improvement, venture capital deal of the year, and other market-level categories.

Entries to the GPIW awards close on 14 September 2025.

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For further information about Wazoku, visit https://www.wazoku.com
For further information about Innocentive, visit https://www.innocentive.com/

PR Contact:
Paul Allen – Rise PR
+ 44 (0) 7515 199 487 / paul@risepr.co.uk

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