The private sector’s capacity to bridge innovation and scalability is critical in accelerating the adoption of sustainable food-water technologies. While start-ups drive cutting-edge solutions, they often face systemic barriers including high upfront costs, fragmented ecosystems and low trust among smallholders. For instance, PepsiCo’s partnership with Mimosa Tech in Viet Nam’s Central Highlands has shown initial success, deploying advanced water probes ($1,000/unit) to optimize water use for around 300 growers.55 However, scaling-up required addressing deeper challenges, including unsustainable subsidy models and farmer scepticism toward data-driven practices. Public-private partnerships can amplify impact by aligning stakeholders, sharing risks and securing policy incentives. Collaborative platforms such as the World Economic Forum’s Food Innovation Hubs (see Box 4) enable corporates and governments to source innovations, validate ROI and embed solutions across value chains – turning isolated pilots into sector-wide transformation. Leverage private sector to scale-up food-water technologyEnabling action #4 World Economic Forum’s Food Innovation Hubs BOX 4 Overview The Forum’s Food Innovation Hubs leverage multi- stakeholder and market-based partnerships to scale-up fit-for-purpose innovations. –Leadership: the hubs are catalysed and co-led by the World Economic Forum alongside several governments, private sector organizations, philanthropies, farmers, civil society leaders and innovators. –Core approach: the hubs create multi-stakeholder partnerships to accelerate adoption of technologies and practices tailored to local needs to unlock investment at scale; they also leverage a formidable global network of practitioners, building a trusted ecosystem for exchange and driving cutting-edge insights on global frontiers in food innovation. –Global footprint: the initiative operates several country/ regional hubs in Colombia, India, Viet Nam, Europe, Africa and UAE, connected by a global Food Innovators Network. UAE Food Innovation Hub: catalysing solutions for arid- climate futures Background Launched at COP28, the Food Innovation Hub UAE drives scalable solutions for arid-climate food security and circular supply chains. The hub has three strategic priorities that seek to expand beyond food production to capture high-impact opportunities: 1) Localization and alternatives, 2) Arid climate food production and 3) Supply chain integrity and circularity.Partnerships and ecosystem support The hub fosters strong partnerships to empower innovators at every stage, from sourcing and incubation to scaling- up. Building on catalytic support from philanthropies, the hub is governed by a national council that brings together public, private and academic institutions and is chaired by the Minister of Climate Change and Environment. Since its incubation, the hub has convened a robust innovation ecosystem with several partnerships: –Industry: Silal, Pure Harvest, Bustanica, Al Dahra, Majjid Al Futtaim, Abu Dhabi National Hotels. –Academia/research: Khalifa University, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, SOMA Mater. –Funding and leadership: Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, UAE, complemented by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives foundation and incubated by the World Economic Forum. Key outcomes –Access programme: Provides mentorship, incubation and UAE market access for innovators. –Producers’ collective: Unites UAE agri-producers to align initiatives with national food security goals, representing over 1 billion Dirhams (~$270 million) in investments and a significant share of local retail supply. The private sector’s capacity to bridge innovation and scalability is critical in accelerating the adoption of sustainable food- water technologies. From Scarcity to Solutions: Food-Water Innovation in Asia and the Middle East 39

From Scarcity to Solutions 2025