The Czech Republic won the prize for the best innovation ever at EXPO in Dubai – for SAWER

The organizers of the General World Exhibition awarded the Czech Republic the prize for "best innovation" for a technology that independently produces water from dry desert air using only solar energy.

SAWER (solar-air-water-earth-resources) was proposed for the first EXPO in the Arab world by the General Commissioner of the participation of the Czech Republic in 2017, and thanks to the team of the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings, it became a real and functional technology in the following four years.

“It was a surprise,” comments on the feelings of the general commissioner Jiří F. Potužník, “the organizers have already announced all the awards of the International Bureau for Exhibitions and started the cultural program dedicated to EXPO 2025 in Osaka, but then they awarded two more high awards – the BIE COSMOS Prize and UAE Innovations Award. And the last one belongs to the Czech Republic."

The prize was awarded to the Czech pavilion by the Center for Governmental Innovation of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, i.e. the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. The Czech innovation gained ground among several thousand others, which it presents to two hundred nations in Dubai, and among almost five hundred finalists of the competition.

“It's a beautiful reward for hard work and a very significant award that we really appreciate and thank you for. It can be seen that even a small research center in the Czech Republic can shine at the world level. Czech science, and I certainly do not mean only SAWER, is once again among the best. The development of the entire system from Jiří F. Potužník's design was not easy and it is not over yet. The equipment, which was originally supposed to produce 500 liters of water per day in the Czech Republic pavilion, only produced over 1,300 liters yesterday," adds Jakub Dytrich from the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Photo Gallery here.