10:44 am - October 15, 2026
The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative has signed a two-year partnership with the World Economic Forum to accelerate UAE water innovation and connect solutions with the financing and markets needed to scale them.
The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative announced on 15 September that it has signed a partnership agreement with the World Economic Forum to speed the adoption and deployment of practical water solutions, extending the Abu Dhabi initiative’s reach into the global water innovation ecosystem. The agreement runs for two years, through September 2028, and centres on closing a persistent gap between promising water technologies and the financing, policy and market demand needed to scale them.
Turning ideas into deployed projects
Through the partnership, the two organisations will develop resources to share knowledge and expertise, support investment and bring together government, industry, finance and civil society leaders who can help turn water ideas into deployed projects. They will also use major international water conferences, including the UN Water Conference the UAE co-hosts with Senegal in Abu Dhabi this December, to strengthen collaboration on investment and implementation across UAE water innovation.
His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Vice-Chairman of The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, said the UAE has built “a long-term approach to addressing water scarcity challenges based on strategic planning, innovation and partnership building,” and that the World Economic Forum partnership “reinforces this approach” as water scarcity pressures grow on economies and societies worldwide.
Ayesha Al Ateeqi, Chief Executive Officer of The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, said the aim is to strengthen “the pathways that connect promising solutions with the capital, policy environments, markets and partners needed to achieve impact at scale,” describing the tie-up as part of “a more coordinated international response to water scarcity.”
The World Economic Forum’s side of the deal
Larry Fink, Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum, said water scarcity “will require greater investment, innovation, and partnership,” and that the Forum’s convening power can help bring together leaders across business, government and finance around the issue. Sebastian Buckup, the Forum’s Managing Director, said water remains “one of the most under-resourced and under-invested areas of the global agenda” despite underpinning energy, food, industry and urban development, and called the deal a shared recognition that water innovation depends on financing, policy and cross-sector collaboration as much as technology.
The partnership adds to a run of UAE-anchored water diplomacy this year ahead of December’s UN Water Conference, including a UAE water innovation award extended to widen global participation. For UAE water innovation ventures and investors, the tie-up gives Abu Dhabi’s flagship water initiative a direct route into the Forum’s network of financiers and policymakers, a channel that could help move pilot projects into commercial deployment across the wider Gulf water sector.
