Dr. Urine Research Team Won the Leaving No One Behind Innovation Award 2019!

The 1st World Summit on Leaving No One Behind was held in Geneva on 7-8th February 2019 at the WIPO Conference Hall. This event was organized by WaterLex, The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the International Water Resources Association (IWRA).

The Summit was the first event in 2019 to find ground-breaking technical and governance solutions for the topic of “Leaving No One Behind”, bringing governance leaders and funding agencies together.

As for the first day, the Flagship Project session was organized to showcase the six most promising ideas from the call for scientific and policy research abstracts on the topic of Human Rights Solutions to Water and Sanitation. Six selected experts presented scientific and policy-enabling ideas around the topic of “Leaving no one behind.”

There was a “Leaving No One Behind Innovation Award 2019" for the most promising idea presented during the day, including funding for the winner to start a feasibility study. The winner was selected by the judges on day one from the six finalist Flagship Projects, those which had been pilot tested, and which showed the best chance of success.

The second day provided a more dynamic platform for bringing real projects and funders together in an engaging manner.

Prof. Mooyoung Han and Dr. Shervin Hashemi participated in this summit. Dr. Hashemi has presented the Self Sustaining Resource Circulation Sanitation Showcase as one of the "Flagship Projects." The presentation received attention from the jury and the audiences led to a very fruitful discussion.

At the end of the first day in the Gala Award Dinner Ceremony, the Self Sustaining Resource Circulation Sanitation Showcase has been chosen as the most promising approach with a nature-based solution for sanitation waste re-use as fertilizer. The project will be tested in rural Vietnam, using bio seeds as a source of locally-based biological treatment.

Holding the trophy in his hand, Dr. Hashemi told the audiences "It is my very great honor to accept this award, while I believe that all presented flagship projects did deserve it. I wish to thank everybody who had any role in this project and I hope that all of us can make good progress in our way toward SDG6."

On day two, three prizes were awarded from fourteen finalist Exploration Projects for human rights-based approaches, such as community-managed rainwater harvesting, community-driven solutions in partnership with local government, and sanitation solutions for disabled children. Congratulations go to Deepthi Wickramsinghe (Sri Lanka), Eva Manzano (Colombia), Ramisetty Murali and Mekala Snehalatha (India).

All award-winning projects and finalists will be showcased during the UN-Water campaign this year, with the goal of sharing the innovations more widely and encouraging more interest in solutions for the people that are being left behind.

It is planned to run this Summit annually, teaming the “Leaving No One Behind” topic with the annual UN-Water theme, such as Climate Change in 2020.

To read more about the 1st World Summit on Leaving No One Behind, please click here.