Beyond hyperbole: Local iterative innovation is making real change in energy and water

The world is in urgent need of meaningful impact. Genuine action is too often overshadowed by hyperbole and exaggeration, something we witness daily in the media and in the modern business landscape, where economic incentives depend on engagement. Meanwhile, we face claims that new products and solutions could “transform our lives” or “change the future.”

Yet what remains missing is real action – the tangible efforts required to truly improve the lives of billions of people. To make our planet more livable, ensure global food security and guarantee universal access to basic energy, we must move beyond promises and recognize the solutions that deliver genuine, measurable change.

Technology, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), is, no doubt, reshaping societies and economies. However, there is still a misconception around which innovations are having the most tangible and positive impact on communities worldwide.

The sustainability sector is a prime example, littered with technological solutions advancing key priorities including emissions reduction, environmental protection and inclusive growth. However, not all of these deliver the returns and impact they promise. Sometimes, pragmatic and locally-led solutions to improve – not rebuild – existing systems can be as transformative.

Globally, entrepreneurs are delivering meaningful change through targeted, incremental innovation, directly impacting the lives of people in vulnerable communities and regions. Such genuine, on-the-ground impact is not only achievable but also replicable across diverse geographies.

BASE Foundation is one organization addressing post-harvest loss while improving farmer livelihoods. Agriculture supports many economies, especially in developing countries, where smallholder farmers make up most of the rural population. Having a good harvest, therefore, becomes survival.

However, an estimated 30-40% of produce is lost after harvest due to inadequate cold chain infrastructure. In Africa, close to 50% is lost or damaged before reaching the end consumer. The Swiss non-profit’s solution was a modular approach to low-carbon, energy-efficient cooling technology that extended its existing “cooling-as-a-service” model.

Instead of requiring consumers to invest in costly cooling systems, the BASE model offers a pay-per-use service that eliminates high upfront costs, making the proven model affordable and accessible to new users, without the maintenance or performance risks typically associated with ownership. It redefines investment and risk-sharing, prioritizing accessibility over untested innovation.

Another major global challenge affecting billions worldwide is access to clean, abundant water. There is water scarcity, and then there is outdated infrastructure and management systems that leave entire communities and businesses in emerging markets without this fundamental resource.

The rapid pace of urbanisation and the rise in living standards are putting added pressure on key water sources in developing countries, building a perfect storm that could threaten the very backbone of our societies and economies.

To address this challenge, Brazil-based Stattus4 has developed AI-based technology that helps water utilities identify key water-loss areas and supports them in correcting the loss sources more accurately and quickly. Stattus4’s technology has already saved the equivalent of almost 50 Olympic pools’ worth of water per day, enough to serve over 1 million people.

What links these two solutions and companies, despite operating in different sectors and geographies, is not just their commitment to practical innovation and tangible impact but also their recent nominations as finalists for the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

As the United Arab Emirates’ pioneering award for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation, the prize has established itself as an essential pipeline for local innovators with practical solutions to key global challenges in water, food, health, energy and climate action.

Since its inception, the prize has focused on solutions that deliver real improvements for vulnerable communities, giving little priority to technologies and innovations that promise the world but deliver very little. This approach and philosophy have improved more than 400 million people’s lives and must be replicated across the sustainability sector and investment community.

Similarly, the World Economic Forum’s UpLink initiative recognizes and advances ideas that shape a sustainable, equitable and thriving global economy, with an emphasis on fostering cross-sector partnerships. Ultimately, achieving global success will depend on flexible, supportive funding that empowers local innovators to develop practical projects and solutions.

Initiatives such as the prize can be catalysts and role models but they cannot drive transformation alone. Showcasing scalable, smart solutions demonstrates how innovative thinking can lead to profound, wide-reaching impact. Highly adaptable across multiple sectors, they may also spark new waves of creativity and problem-solving in other industries.

As policy-makers and business leaders convene for the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2026, they must remember that headlines and promises have limits. Immediate, tangible change and the technologies that can deliver it already exist. What’s needed now is support, collaboration and coordinated cross-sector action to scale these proven solutions.