Innovations for Water Resilience Competition: Using systemic shocks to drive economic innovation, collaboration and climate adaptation in Cape Town, South Africa

The document details a project by GreenCape and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, supported by the City of Cape Town, to harness entrepreneurial innovation in response to the 2015-2018 drought. The central mechanism was a 'shark tank-style' competition designed to identify and support water-tech SMMEs, providing a platform for networking and business development to build long-term economic and climate resilience.

• The drought experienced in Cape Town between 2015 and 2018, characterized by rainfall below the mean annual average and the threat of 'Day Zero', acted as a catalyst for a rapid increase in water-related technology and service innovations.
• The Innovations for Water Resilience Competition served as a mechanism to filter and prioritize the most promising water-tech innovations from a surge of new ideas, providing entrepreneurs with a platform to showcase solutions to water shortages.
• The competition attracted 47 applications from local and international entrepreneurs, resulting in seven finalists and a winner, LiquidGold Africa, who received R20,000 in business development support.
• The project emphasizes that building resilience to climate shocks requires systemic collaboration across the public sector, NGOs, and private enterprises to generate holistic solutions and support the growth of SMMEs.
• The competition provided tangible growth support to participants through a high-quality judging panel that offered individual feedback on competitive advantage and business growth to improve their business cases.

APA

GreenCape (2019). Innovations for Water Resilience Competition: Using systemic shocks to drive economic innovation, collaboration and climate adaptation in Cape Town, South Africa. https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Innovations_for_water_Resilience_Case_Study_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Innovations for Water Resilience Competition: Using systemic shocks to drive economic innovation, collaboration and climate adaptation in Cape Town, South Africa. 2019. https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Innovations_for_water_Resilience_Case_Study_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Innovations for Water Resilience Competition: Using systemic shocks to drive economic innovation, collaboration and climate adaptation in Cape Town, South Africa |date=2019 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Innovations_for_water_Resilience_Case_Study_FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencape2019innovations, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Innovations for Water Resilience Competition: Using systemic shocks to drive economic innovation, collaboration and climate adaptation in Cape Town, South Africa}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2019}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Innovations_for_water_Resilience_Case_Study_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }