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Prototypes for Humanity Awards

Celebrating the next generation of innovators

About

The Prototypes for Humanity Awards celebrate the next generation of innovators and their commitment to finding solutions for social and environmental issues.

Since 2017 prizes have been presented to outstanding participants from the showcase each year, awarded to academic innovators who use problem-solving to address challenges of global proportions. An independent jury selects recipients, enabling them to further develop their projects.

2024 Awards

In 2024, $100,000 in prizes will be presented to the students and lead professor behind each of the best solutions across 5 categories:

–              Health

–              Energy

–              Civil Society

–              Nature

–              Data science and AI-enabled solutions (across all above)

The selection criteria to the exhibition remain originality, positive impact for people and the planet and use of technology (low or high tech). The level of matching between any given application and the categories above will not be a decisive factor for the exhibition selection.

2024 Jury Members

Chaired by Her Highness Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and member of the Dubai Council, the jury for the 2024 Awards includes leaders across private and public sector, and intergovernmental agencies, who contribute their expertise to select projects with outstanding potential:

  • Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and member of the Dubai Council
  • Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation
  • Amira Sajwani, Managing Director of Sales & Development at DAMAC Properties, Founder & CEO of PRYPCO, and Co-founder & COO of Amali Properties
  • Kristoffer Gandrup-Marino, UNICEF Chief of Product Innovation
  • Naren Barfield, Professor Emeritus and Fellow at Royal College of Art

2023 Award winners

In 2023, $100,000 in prizes was presented to the students and lead professor behind each of the best solutions across 5 categories, reflecting key COP28 themes.

  • Nature, Food and Water Systems 

    HyaPak, Turning invasive weeds into eco-friendly bioplastics

    By Joseph Nguthiru. Egerton University, Kenya

  • Health, Relief and Safety

    Golden Capsule, Medicine-injection device optimised for emergency disaster scenarios

    By Yujin Chae, Yeonghwan Shin, Bai Yuan and Daeyeon Kim. Hongik University, South Korea

  • Energy, Efficiency and Waste

    Synthetic Yeasts for Biotechnology, Synthetic yeast to enhance sustainable production of chemicals and biofuels

    By José de Jesus Montano Lopez, Yu Zhao, José L. Avalos, Jef Boeke and Elijah Gallimore-Repole. Princeton University and New York University, USA

  • Education, Equality and Communities 

    Kapak, AI to detect suspicious activity in public procurement processes

    By Mara Fortuny, Daniel Riofrío, Farith Simon and Erika Guerrero. Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador

  • Data Science and AI-Enabled

    Digital Twins 4 Tailings Dams, Using satellite monitoring to prevent tailings storage facility risks

    By Maral Bayaraa, Prof. Brian Sheil and Dr. Cristian Rossi. University of Oxford, England