XPRIZE Will Award $1.75 Million to Anyone Who Can Create Water from Thin Air (Efficiently)

There’s a prize out in the wild that awards $1.75 million for developing a technology that draws hundreds of liters of water out of thin air per day– 2,000 liters (528.3 gallons), to be exact. In addition, the process must be powered entirely by renewable energy and cost less than 2 cents per liter. It’s the type of far-fetched solution that, if developed, would dramatically improve the wellbeing of hundreds of millions around the world.

The competition has been established by XPRIZE, a non-profit organization that regularly raises millions of dollars in prize money for innovative solutions that address some of the world’s most pressing problems. The Water Abundance XPRIZE has been co-sponsored by the Tata Group and the Australian government.

Water scarcity is one such global problem that continues to grow each day due to climate change and rapid population growth. According to the World Bank, more than 1.6 billion people currently live in countries and regions with absolute water scarcity, and the number is projected to skyrocket to 2.8 billion people by 2025.

While the technology currently exists to extract water from thin air, according to Tata, “it’s highly energy inefficient.”

XPRIZE has also set up a $1 million prize to address the pressing issue of women’s safety. The money will be awarded to the team that develops an emergency contact system for women without access to cellphones, empowering communities to rapidly respond to threats to their members. The Women’s Safety XPRIZE, which is being co-sponsored by Anu and Naveen Jain, also stipulates that the system (which will likely be a type of smart wearable device) must inconspicuously trigger an alert to emergency contacts within 90 seconds and cost less than $40 a year.

The couple was inspired to launch the prize by their experience growing up in areas that were unsafe for women.

Both prizes are currently accepting applications. The Water Abundance XPRIZE will last for two years, while the Women’s Safety XPRIZE will run for 20 months.