Topaz, a Skolkovo resident from the energy efficiency technologies cluster and subsidiary of InEnergy Group, took first place in a competition organized by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), winning it a “golden pass” to skip the evaluation phase for an acceleration partnership with DEWA subsidiaries.
The DEWA competition, titled “DEWA Future Energy, Water and Sustainability Technologies Competition,” took place alongside the Skolkovo Foundation’s Open Innovations Forum 2020 and drew startups with solutions in the fields of energy technologies, electricity fitting, smart and sustainable cities and water management. Six startups were shortlisted and pitched their business projects online to a jury panel comprised of representatives from DEWA, the Skolkovo Foundation, the Agency for Technological Development in Moscow, and the Russian Emirati Commission on Economic Cooperation at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Topaz took first place and the runners up were Watts Battery and Touch, both of which took second and third place respectively.
Topaz received the “DEWA Golden Pass to DFA,” which UAE government bodies share with the prominent Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) program. The pass verifies that the startup fits within the framework of the program, allowing it to skip the evaluation phase and go straight for an interview with the DFA. Topaz will have the opportunity to discuss the possibility of an acceleration partnership with Digital DEWA subsidiaries: Moro Hub, Digital X, and InfraX.
The criteria for the competition include scalability, solutions in AI, IoT, emerging technologies, microwave & RF, with special attention given to solutions designed to prevent water wastage (water intelligence), electricity cable fault detection, intelligent office/building, and so on. The participants were judged based on their elevator pitch, business model, and market analysis.
DEWA and the Skolkovo Foundation maintain a stable cooperation, both sides having agreed recently to sign a memorandum of understanding. A Skolkovo resident – Cable Walker – has already tested and implemented its solution into DEWA utilities, while another startup company – Profotech – is in an advanced stage of talks with DEWA with regards to pilot projects. This year’s Open Innovations Forum marked the first time that DEWA joined as a partner (Special International Partner of the Open Innovations Forum).
About Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) was formed on 1 January 1992. Since its inception, it has made considerable achievements, making it one of the best utilities in the world. Today, DEWA provides its services to more than one million happy customers in Dubai according to the highest standards of efficiency, reliability, and availability. DEWA’s results surpass major international utilities. The UAE, represented by DEWA, has maintained its first place globally in Getting Electricity for the third consecutive year as per the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, which measures the ease of doing business in 190 economies worldwide. DEWA achieved 100% in all Getting Electricity indicators.
DEWA also adopts the latest technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to disrupt the entire business of public utilities by becoming the world’s first digital utility to use autonomous systems for renewable energy and storage while expanding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital services. Dubai will be the first city to provide AI-based electricity and water services.
In line with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world and provide 75% of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050, DEWA is building major clean and renewable energy projects. One of the key projects is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site solar project in the world with a planned capacity of 5000MW by 2030. Currently, the share of clean energy in Dubai’s energy mix is around 9%.
Skolkovo Foundation
A non-profit organization founded in 2010 that functions as the administrator of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
The goal of the Foundation is to support technological entrepreneurship in Russia and the commercialization of the results of research activities.
The number of Skolkovo residents has already reached nearly 2,500. The Foundation provides them with an array of services that are necessary to roll out developments onto the Russian and international markets. Resident status gives a company tax and customs privileges. In 2019, residents’ revenue amounted to over 100 billion rubles, and the amount of investment they raised amounted to 13 billion rubles. Since 2019, legislation has allowed any organization conducting research activities in Russia to access the services and benefits of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
Located on the Skolkovo Innovation Center territory is the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), which is in the world’s top-100 young universities according to the Nature Index. The Innovation Center infrastructure comprises, among other things, the research centers of industrial partners and the largest Technopark in Europe. In 2019, three new partner R&D centers, which belong to Sibur, TMK, and Tatneft, opened at the innovation center. A total of 750,000 square meters of residential buildings, research and educational centers have been put into operation on Skolkovo territory, and extrabudgetary investment in infrastructure exceeded 100 billion rubles.