Climate start-ups compete in Dubai for $50,000 Expo Live Innovation grant

More than 40 climate start-ups are competing for $50,000 in funding offered by the Expo Live Innovation programme.

The event, which kicked off on Wednesday at Expo City in Dubai and ends on Friday, attracted innovators from countries all over the world including Nepal, Germany, French Polynesia, Tunisia, India and Brazil.

Each candidate has 15 minutes to deliver their ideas to a judging panel during a three-day pitching event at Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion at Expo.

They will address environmental challenges such as deforestation, biodiversity depletion and global warming.

Winners will be awarded a $50,000 grant to develop their projects, accompanied by valuable technical guidance along with the opportunity to display their work at Cop28, which is being held at Expo City Dubai this year.

Yousuf Caires, executive director of the Expo Live Innovation programme says he wants all participants to win. Chris Whiteoak / The National

"We want anyone with a solid solution that will transform communities and address the climate crisis to win," Yousuf Caires, executive director of Expo Live Innovation, told The National.

"The $50,000 will be a game changer for them."

Mr Caires emphasised that the diverse range of competing companies illustrates how climate change is a priority for innovators.

"It is clear that it is not just countries discussing climate change," he said. "Those directly affected by it are actively seeking tangible solutions."

This year the Expo grant is uniquely linked to Cop28 and will open doors for the competing companies to exhibit their projects and forge connections with other foundations and investors.

The funding will also allow them to make lasting contributions to the fight against climate change.

Measuring biodiversity value

Endangered Wildlife, a software company from Estonia, is one of the companies that pitched to judges on the opening day of the event.

The company's aim is to combat the climate crisis by assigning a financial value to individual biodiversity species through its software, Biodiversity Valuator.

With a unique and protected methodology, the software calculates the biodiversity value based on the species' location.

Shana Vida Gavron, chief executive of Endangered Wildlife, pitching at the Expo City Dubai event on Wednesday. Chris Whiteoak / The National

"We cannot address the climate crisis without saving our biodiversity," Shana Vida Gavron, chief executive of Endangered Wildlife, told The National.

She said that their software had calculated the biodiversity value of the Arabian oryx in the UAE at €81 million ($22.05) and that of the ghaf tree at €77 million.

"These concrete figures make it easier for sustainability reporting and integration of biodiversity into decision-making processes," she said.

"Winning the Expo grant would enable the company to expand our database – incorporating data for thousands of species from around the world."

Tree planting in Nepal

The Green Alliance is another start-up competing for the $50,000 prize.

The Dutch company, which focuses on planting trees in Nepal to restore landscapes, has an ambitious plan that involves planting 10,000 trees on 20 hectares of land and training 2,400 farmers.

But the company's plan extends beyond reforestation.

Matthijs van Rijn, co-founder and director of The Green Alliance, told The National that they are committed to empowering communities.

"We help people plant and take care of fruit-bearing trees that communities can harvest," he said.

If the company secures the Expo grant, Mr Van Rijn said his goal is to develop a user-friendly app that allows for tree registration using pictures and GPS co-ordinates.

"The app will serve as a vital tool to connect with farmers in remote areas, and advise them in taking care of the plants as well as give them financial stimuli for doing it," he said.

Among other companies vying for the $50,000 prize money is German company BioConsult, which aims to map the whale population using high-resolution satellite imagery of oceans to identify biodiversity loss in the oceans, and Tunisia-based Ecobees that offers solutions for remote monitoring of beehives.

The Expo Live Innovation programme received 430 applications and 43 start-ups from 37 countries made the shortlist.

The winners will be announced in the next two weeks.

Expo funds global projects - in pictures

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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