Netherlands’ Innovation Tour to culminate at Expo 2020 Dubai

DUBAI, 6th September, 2021 – The Kingdom of Netherlands has launched “The Uniting Water Energy Food Innovation Tour” that aims at identifying and scaling up some of the most innovative start-up solutions in the fields of water, energy and food.
The tour covers the fastest growing innovation ecosystems in the world and will culminate at the finals taking place at the Expo 2020 Dubai in January 2022, according to a press release issued by the Netherlands Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Launched along with Unknown Group, the tour will travel through the MENA, Asia-Pacific regions and The Netherlands. The top 15 startups participating in these virtual pre-rounds will be invited to pitch their solutions to the world’s leading investors, corporates and governments at the finals taking place at the Expo 2020 Dubai.
Lody Embrechts, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UAE, said, “Our partners in governance in the Gulf region plan to effectively achieve its ambitions to diversify its energy mix, become more self-sufficient with regards to its food supply, and secure the availability of fresh water for agriculture and consumption. These water, energy and food sectors will have to operate in close coordination, as a nexus. The inextricable linkages between these critical domains, water, sustainable agriculture and efficient energy production are critical if we are to take responsible climate action.”
In the coming decades, the world will need increasing amounts of resources. Population growth, resource-intensive lifestyles and the damaging effects of climate change will lead to water, energy and food insecurity across the globe. To be able to feed a population of almost 10 billion people that will likely inhabit our world in 2050, the world has to think about how to use scarce resources like water, energy and food as efficiently as possible.
The tour will be operated by Unknown Group’s label, Get in the Ring. Over the last decade, Get in the Ring has grown to become the world’s most global start-up competition with events in over 100 countries. In the last year over 25,000 start-ups from 109 countries applied to the Get in the Ring events.
The events in the UAE will kick off on 29th September and will be followed by several other events taking place in Asia Pacific (14th October), the wider MENA region (16th November ), The Netherlands (1st December) and in Jordan (15th December). Each pre-round will be held in a virtual environment where startups tackling water, energy and food challenges take part in five one-on-one deal making meetings with a curated selection of leading corporates, governments and impact investors.
The most impressive solutions will be invited to take part in the Water Energy & Food Innovation Finals at the Expo 2020 Dubai in January 2022. The finalist will enter deal making meetings and pitch their innovation to determine the ultimate winner in uniting water, energy and food, said the press release.