The two-year competition is composed of three rounds. To compete, teams must first register on researcher.ae and then create a team for Tawazun Economic Council challenge. Once registered, teams must submit the high level research application required for the first Round and before the first deadline.

Once the shortlisted teams move to Round 2, the team must submit a concept design paper 4 months after the first deadline detailing their approach along with the sign Terms Sheet and NDA agreements by the set deadline. Therefore, we encourage teams to begin designing their approach and technologies at the earliest opportunity.

Concept papers will be evaluated by our panel of experts and a maximum of 4 teams will then progress to round three. Each of the 4 teams will receive a milestone prize of $75,000 [AED 275K] to develop their solutions and compete for the $1 million grand prize [AED 3.6 million]. Further details can be found below and more details will be provided once the NDA and Term Sheet Agreements are signed by competitors.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE

Sandooq Al Watan and Tawazun believe that challenges can be solved by anyone. Scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and innovators with new ideas from all over the world are invited to form a team and register to compete. To participate, a team may need to recruit additional experts, and can add new members at any time throughout the competition. Teams can include:

• Universities and research institutions
• Individual researchers and scientists in collaboration with universities

(Note: International applicants can participate in collaboration with UAE based university or research institutions)

Each team should carry out at least 40% of the work (including 40% of the research and development work) in connection with the contestant in the UAE using students, employees and researchers of any UAE university or other UAE research institute with significant participation of Emirati nationals.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

• All participants on the shortlisted projects including the winning team and within all the stages of their development, successful or not, will agree that all IP rights will be owned by Tawazun.Tawazun Defense and Security Development Fund will discuss monetary benefits with the team in lieu of IP ownership.
• All project related documents must be handed over to Tawazun upon challenge completion.
• The development work must be carried out in the UAE and must be free from any third-party restrictions.
• Tawazun must be freely able to use the components of the products developed.

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

After the registration period, the Tawazun UAE Prize Challenge will have two rounds of testing and judging:

COMPETITION OVERSIGHT

Centurium Prize will recruit judges with expertise in the relevant fields related to the competition and will seek to ensure that the expertise of the judging panel is diverse enough to fairly evaluate the various technologies and approaches that the teams may develop during the competition. The duties and responsibilities of the Judging Panel will include and will not be limited to evaluating teams’ compliance with the competitor agreement, competition guidelines, the rules and regulations for the purposes of the competition, awarding of points and selection of teams and entries that will proceed to each subsequent phases of the competition.

PRIZE

The Milestone Prize: the final shortlist will include up to 4 teams. Each team will be awarded $75,000 [AED 275K] for qualifying to the finals.

The Grand Prize: $1 million [AED 3.6 million] will be awarded to the winning team that can successfully complete the challenge described in the overview section.

During the progress of the competition, Sandooq Al Watan can make updates and changes on the above information and the set of documents below, and keep them updated from time to time. Any update or changes is duly notified to all the participating teams.

COMPETITION GUIDELINES

Once the competitor agreements are signed, registered teams will receive a detailed document that includes specific information about the challenge and a description of the requirements to win.

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COMPETITOR AGREEMENT

Legally binding contract that includes an NDA and a competitor term sheet. All competing teams must sign these documents to compete. These agreements can be downloaded.

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RULES AND REGULATIONS

A document detailing the testing protocols, specific rules, dates/times, and other details that will govern the competition and will be binding on teams. These will be shared once the competitor agreement is signed.

SPONSORSHIP / DONOR NOTIFICATION FORM

Teams must disclose to the Centurium Prize any sponsorship funding received by the team.

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