Aus govt partner with Tata group for USD 1.5 mn prize

Australian government has partnered with Indian majorTata group and US-based XPRIZEto run a USD 1.5 million global 'Water Abundance Prize' challenge for innovators who use energy-efficient technology to harvest water from air.
The open challenge is forinnovators, scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and creative thinkers with new ideasto showcase use oftechnology in improvingaffordable access to clean water in high humidity areas where water is either unavailable or inaccessible.
An official statement here said thatAustralian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop encouragedinnovators across the globeto take on the Challengeduring hervisit to XPRIZE headquarters,a non-profit organisation specialising in encouraging technological advances to meet global development needs.

The topprize award of USD 1.5million will be givento the creator of the most innovative and effective device which uses energy-efficient technology to harvest water from air, producing a minimum of 2,000 litres of water per day from the atmosphere, using 100 per cent renewable energy, at a cost of no more than 2 cents per litre.
In addition to this, five prizes worth Australian dollars 67,000 will be awarded to the other finalists.
Only one per cent of the earth's water resources can be used for human consumption.
"This ground and surface water is unevenly distributed, which can lead to the spread of disease, conflict over resources, irregular migration and slowed economic development. Water scarcity is a particularly acute problem in our Indo-Pacific region," Bishop said.

Teams have until March 31st to register, seven months for initial solution development and twelve months to complete rounds of testing before being judged by an expert panel.