Minister of Economy and Planning reveals UpLink Winners at WEF's Annual Meeting of the New Champions

The Minister of Economy and Planning, Faisal F. Alibrahim, attended the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China, on June 27-29, during which several key announcements were made.
The three-day gathering was attended by over 1,500 global leaders from business, government, civil society, and other international organizations, who explored solutions to critical challenges such as the energy transition as well as the overall wellbeing of our planet.
HE Alibrahim attended several bilateral sessions throughout the event. This included meetings with Dr. Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Minister of Digital Transformation of Slovania, Mr. Hrvoje Bujanovic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Croatia, WEF President Borge Brende and other senior officials attending the forum. During the meetings, HE Alibrahim discussed areas of further collaboration and opportunities and recent regional and global development.
During the conference, His Excellency Alibrahim announced the ten winners of the "Food Ecosystems in Arid Climates" Challenge, organized in partnership with WEF's Uplink. Participants who took part in the challenge answered an open call to share innovative solutions that enhance food security during a time when the world is facing intensified droughts and desertification.
The winners were awarded funding and support to take their ideas to the next level, while also enhancing their own visibility as well as accessing networking opportunities. There were two Saudi winners: Jeddah-based Mishkat, which uses hydroponic agriculture to reduce the Kingdom's reliance on imported foods, and Thuwal-based Terraxy, which is working to enhance irrigation efficiency and soil fertility under extremely hot and dry conditions.
These start-ups, alongside the additional winners outlined below, won the first of two challenges focused on food systems:
AgroTech+ (Kenya)
Dedicated to the production of affordable, solar-powered cold storage units for small-scale rural farmers in arid climates.
Desert Control (Norway)
Specializes in AgTech solutions to combat desertification, soil degradation, and water scarcity.
Hydroponics Africa (Kenya)
Offers innovative hydroponic solutions that allow farmers to grow nutritious food crops and animal fodder at lower costs.
Orbilion (United States)
Tackles food insecurity and the climate crises by producing cell-cultured meat that is safe, scalable, and sustainable.
RDI (United States)
Offers the world's first plant-responsive irrigation and fertigation system, reducing the overuse and waste of water from inefficient irrigation practices.
Smart Oasis Farm (UK)
A vertical farming solution using leading-edge technologies that enables food production with high yield and low operating costs under any weather conditions.
Vivent Biosensor (Switzerland)
A Swiss deep-tech SME developing applications linked to naturally occurring bioelectrical signals in plants, which are complex and difficult to interpret.
Yolélé (United States)
A purpose-driven natural food company centred on fonio, an ancient African super grain that has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years.
While this initial batch of winners will continue to benefit from the platform that UpLink provides, the next challenge, focused on climate-smart agriculture, was also announced during the event.
It seeks to improve living standards through boosting food production, responding to climate effects and enhancing food ecosystems.
The idea is present solutions that empower farmers and others in the food industry to use climate-smart agriculture in a sustainable way, while also reducing the effects of climate change and incentivize resilient solutions.
It also calls on more innovation from within the same sector by boosting the production of food that protects and replenishes the planet through carbon capture, which could have a huge impact if replicated on a mass scale.
Both Uplink Innovation Challenges are funded by the Ministry of Economy and Planning, alongside 17 other entities, including: 3 BL Associates, Act4Food Act4Change, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (C4IR KSA), Clim-Eat, Cornucopian Capital, EAT, Innovative Institute for Food and Health, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Manuia, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture KSA, Federation of Saudi Chambers, Omnivore, Sentient Ventures, Social Gastronomy, Movement, Unilever, WFP Innovation Accelerator, and World Food Forum. The "Food Ecosystems in Arid Climates" challenge has received nearly 200 solutions that have been assessed by various experts at the World Economic Forum and representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to encourage positive change for people and planet.