High-level Reflections: Innovation to Action

The first panel discussion will feature representatives from cities and countries, who will reflect on the knowledge, innovation, and technology required to enhance the climate resilience of communities with respect to water. City and country leaders will share their insights on groundbreaking innovations and areas where further innovation is necessary. 

The speakers for the first panel are: 

• H.E. Professor Hani Sewilam, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt 

• H. E. Eng. Awaidha Murshed Ali Al Marar, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (TBC) 

• Representative, City of Lagos 

The second panel discussion will assemble leading experts in climate innovations to deliberate on the conducive environment required for enabling environments, exploring critical themes such as policy, governance, the role of partnerships, knowledge exchange, scaling strategies, financial considerations, and local involvement. Experts from diverse backgrounds within the water sector and around the world will contribute their own experiences and ideas to ignite a dynamic conversation on the transformation of innovations into actionable solutions. 

The speakers for the second panel are: 

• Dame Jo da Silva OBE – Partnerships (Gov to Gov partnerships on capacity building e.g. Peru-UK, Australia-India) and Innovation Accelerators (e.g. Earthshot Prize, Ofwat Innovation Fund) 

• Caitlin Wale, Kinjani – Funding / financing of Innovation 

• John Matthews, AGWA – Innovation in policy and outcomes tracking (e.g. WaterTracker) 

• Kate Hughes, WaterAid – Innovative Financing for Scaling (e.g. RWA) 

• Angela Churie Kallhauge – Executive Vice President, Environmental Defense Fund – Locally-led innovation 
• Provost Ehab Adbel-Rahman, AUC – Bridging from academia to implementation