Creating water from thin air

Phase

Awarded

Water Abundance XPRIZE Guidelines

CREATING WATER FROM THIN AIR

The Water Abundance XPRIZE powered by the Tata Group and Australia’s Aid Program is a $1.75 million competition (with $1.5 million as Grand Prize and $250,000 in Milestone Prizes). The Grand Prize will be awarded to the team that can successfully create a device that:

  • extracts a minimum of 2,000 liters of water per day from the atmosphere
  • has a combined operating and capital cost of no more than 2 cents per liter
  • uses 100% renewable energy

The Competition Guidelines is a detailed competition document designed to provide prize specific information surrounding the testing parameters and the Competition timeline.

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

After the registration period, The Water Abundance XPRIZE will have two rounds of testing and judging:

  • Round 1: All registered Teams will create a solution prototype that can extract water from the atmosphere using any source of energy and without any requirement for minimum water output or cost per liter
  • Round 2: Up to five Teams from Round 1 will be shortlisted for next and final round of testing wherein the teams must achieve the final objective as described in Competition Overview above.

All registered Teams will have approximately eight months to create a solution prototype that can extract water from atmosphere. All the registered teams will also need to submit a design document during the start of this phase of technology development. Up to five qualifying teams will be chosen by the Judges for next round of testing and all these teams selected for the next round will be awarded milestone prizes. These shortlisted teams will be given five months to build the full solution per the Competition Overview to participate in the next and final round of testing. One Grand Prize Winner will be announced in August, 2018.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

XPRIZE believes that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere. Scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and innovators with new ideas from all over the world are invited to form a team and register to compete. To participate, a team may need to recruit additional experts and can add new members at any time throughout the competition. Competing teams will own the Intellectual Property of their submissions.

COMPETITION OVERSIGHT

To ensure that the competition is fair to competing teams, XPRIZE will appoint the following entities:

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

XPRIZE will form a panel of relevant Advisors to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Competition. This Board will remain in place throughout the Competition to advise XPRIZE regarding all aspects of the design and implementation of the Competition. The duties and responsibilities of the Scientific Advisory Board may include assisting with the establishment of qualifications for prospective Judges, recommending and approving members of the Judging Panel, and providing input related to testing protocols and judging criteria.

JUDGING PANEL

XPRIZE will recruit judges, chosen by the Scientific Advisory Board. XPRIZE will seek to ensure that the expertise of the judging panel is diverse enough to fairly evaluate the various technologies and approaches that the teams may develop during the competition. The duties and responsibilities of the Judging Panel will include, but not be limited to evaluating teams’ compliance with the Competitor Agreement, Competition Guidelines, the Rules and Regulations for the purposes of the Competition, awarding of points and selection of teams and entries that will proceed to each subsequent phases of the Competition.

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS AND CONSULTANTS

To conduct a fair & transparent competition, XPRIZE may hire independent auditors and consultants at different stages of the challenge. These auditors and consultants will be appointed on the recommendation and approval of the Scientific Advisory Board.

The role of the auditors will be to ensure fair testing by either being present on site or monitor the testing remotely. The roles of the consultants will be to help XPRIZE create systems for an effective and transparent remote and on site testing.

COMPETITION INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

  • Competition Guidelines (PDF): Describes the requirements and parameters of the competition and is binding on teams as referenced in, and as part of, the Competitor Agreement.
  • Competitor Agreement: Legally binding contract that contains the requirements of the competition. All competing teams selected in Round 1 must sign this to compete. This document will be made available to the teams shortlisted in Round 1.
  • Rules and Regulations : Testing protocols, specific rules, dates/times, and other details that will govern the competition and will be binding on teams.

During the progress of the competition, XPRIZE makes updates and changes on the above set of documents and keep them updated from time to time. Any update or changes is duly notified to all the participating teams.

CONTACT US

Please contact us via email at water.abundance@xprize.org if you want to share your feedback or comments on these guidelines or if you have any questions about this competition.