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Abu Dhabi / WAM
The Climate Innovations Exchange forum (CLIX), a global platform for gathering investors and people with innovative ideas related to climate change, has attracted 75 investment projects worth US$71.4 million since its formation in 2018.
In a statement to the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, highlighted the importance of motivating people to innovate, noting that the UAE has invested in individuals, and the youth in particular.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment is currently preparing to hold the forum’s third edition from 13th to 16th January 2020, and has received hundreds of applications from the youth and entrepreneurs to present their innovative solutions related to space sustainability, food future, agriculture, energy and transport.
The UAE is a leading model of dealing with the challenges of climate change and its negative effects, based on turning them into opportunities to achieve overall growth.
As part of its climate strategy and in implementation of the directives of the UAE’s leadership, the ministry launched the forum to reinforce and empower young individuals to fulfil their innovative potential.
The ministry is keen, through the forum, to present out of the box solutions, by supporting youth innovations in environmental sustainability. It is also enabling them to participate in the forum as a specialist jurors after selecting the best candidates.
During the forum’s first edition, several young investors expressed their desire to invest $17.5 million to turn several youth innovations into actual projects, with the possibility of increasing these investments in three years. That edition featured 27 innovations selected by the jury, with Emirati projects accounting for 25 percent.
At the end of the forum’s second edition, a group of investors expressed their intention to invest $53.9 million in several showcased projects.
The forum’s second edition, which was organised on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2019, recorded a rise in the number of participation requests by 220 percent while the number of innovations chosen to be displayed rose by 78 percent, and the number of investors and people in business participating increased by 50 percent.