New Delhi: In a significant move to tackle global water challenges, global conglomerate HCL Group, in collaboration with UpLink, the early-stage innovation initiative of the World Economic Forum, has announced the fourth challenge of the Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative—the Water Resilience Challenge.
The announcement was made during the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China. The challenge is now open for applications until 4 August, with winners to be revealed in January 2026. A total financial award of CHF 1.75 million will be distributed among the top 10 winning innovators.
Creating a Global Ecosystem for Water Innovation
The Water Resilience Challenge is part of a broader five-year, CHF 15 million collaboration between UpLink, HCL Group, and the World Economic Forum’s Food and Water team. The Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative aims to create the world’s first innovation ecosystem focused on freshwater sustainability and to empower entrepreneurs with technologies and strategies to conserve, manage and protect water resources.
Sundar Mahalingam, President of Strategy at HCL Group, stated:
“Through HCL’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum and UpLink, we are helping build a global ecosystem for water innovation — one changemaker at a time. We focus on strategic support — enabling promising innovators to access global platforms, visibility, investors, policymakers and peer networks. In just three years, 30 innovators supported through this initiative have raised over $90 million and saved over 12 billion litres of water. Our goal is to empower at least 50 such changemakers — and many more in the years ahead.”
Focus on Scalable, Impact-Driven Solutions
The Water Resilience Challenge seeks innovative, scalable solutions that address increasing stress on water systems from climate change, pollution and industrial, as well as agricultural demands. Submissions are invited in three focus areas:
- Strengthening Infrastructure Resilience – Innovations aimed at reinforcing urban and rural water systems against extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves, while addressing infrastructure gaps and surging water demand.
- Rethinking Agri-food Water Use – Solutions that transform water use in agriculture through nature-based practices, regenerative agriculture, improved irrigation and water recycling.
- Optimising Water in Tech and Energy Sectors – Technologies designed to reduce water use and enhance efficiency in industries like AI data centres, semiconductor manufacturing and energy production, including wastewater energy recovery.
Building a Future-Ready Water Economy
John Dutton, Head of UpLink, World Economic Forum, emphasised the collaborative mission of the initiative by stating:
“UpLink and HCL Group’s Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative recognises that solving the water crisis demands a dynamic ecosystem to scale effective solutions. Together with the World Economic Forum’s Food and Water Initiative, we are proud to launch the Water Resilience Challenge, calling on bold early-stage start-ups addressing the most urgent water needs of our time, from rising demands in the tech and agritech sectors to climate-driven infrastructure vulnerabilities. By supporting breakthrough innovators and fostering cross-sector collaboration, we’re working together to build the water resilience every industry needs to thrive in a water-stressed world.”
Transformative Impact for Startups
The initiative has already demonstrated substantial impact. Mansi Jain, Co-founder and CEO of DigitalPaani, a grantee from a previous cohort, said:
“Being part of the Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative has been transformative. For a company at our stage, the credibility from HCL, UpLink, and the World Economic Forum has opened doors to high-level partners and investors we couldn’t have reached otherwise, including HCL itself. The financial award and global recognition have positioned us for our next stage of growth, and we’ve joined a powerful community of innovators tackling the world’s biggest water challenges.”
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