growth & renewal in 2024
By Dean Amhaus, President & CEO
As we launch into a new year, it’s an exciting time of growth and renewal for The Water Council.
We continue to build our NSF Resiliency Engine. The deeper we dive into the work, the more I am convinced of how necessary and timely it is. This was reinforced when I read “Resilience in focus at Davos,” a McKinsey & Company piece about how resiliency is front and center at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
We also are growing our WAVE program both in participation and programming. We recently closed the 2024 application period for our BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, with nearly 50 applications from water technology startups around the world. Finally, we are making plans for our 2024 summit, with some major changes in store that I’m excited to tell you about in the coming weeks.
NSF Resiliency Engine
We are running at full steam (pardon the pun) developing our Resiliency Engine, focused on building water and energy resiliency and sustainability for manufacturers and utilities. Our list of partners keeps growing as we examine this topic from all angles, including workforce, investments, banking, insurance and more.
To make our engine as inclusive as possible, we are seeking proposals for a diversity, equity, inclusion and access consultant. Ideal candidates will be based in Wisconsin or Illinois and have experience with economic development and/or federal grants. The proposal deadline is Jan. 22.
Water Stewardship
This month, we announced that Culligan International has joined our WAVE: Water Stewardship Verified program. Culligan has numerous sites worldwide, and WAVE will help the company assess its water risks and opportunities and prioritize sites for water action to have the highest impact.
We continue to see growing interest in WAVE and expect to announce more participants soon. In 2024, we are planning to update and expand the program. Stay tuned for more details.
In 2023, we formed a partnership with Rockwell Automation to promote water stewardship services, including WAVE, and technological solutions. Rockwell just released its 2023 sustainability report, and we’re proud to be prominently included. It’s inspiring to see a fellow Milwaukee organization take such great strides in sustainability.
The Water Council is an Industry Trade Ally for Smart Energy Decisions’ Net Zero Forum Spring. Held Feb. 26-28 in The Woodlands, Texas, the Net Zero Forum is dedicated to helping energy customers source, evaluate and connect with energy suppliers to advance their decarbonization and emissions reduction goals. Through pre-scheduled meetings, knowledge-sharing, topic-focused educational sessions and professional networking activities, #SEDNZF delivers the connections, insights and information needed to accelerate your net zero ambitions.
Members of The Water Council with active or upcoming projects are invited to attend. Apply to participate in 1:1 meetings before the Jan. 26 deadline or take $100 off a General Attendee registration here.
Water stewardship will also be a significant topic during WEX Global in Madrid, Spain, on March 4-6. With the new European reporting standards, WEX Global will devote a half-day event to water and sustainability to help participants understand the complexities of the standards and how they could impact their business. Beverley Ferrara, our European representative, will outline how WAVE provides a great fit as companies address the water portion of the standards.
innovation update
Our innovation programming is starting strong in 2024! Earlier this month, we announced the winners of our fall Tech Challenge. These winners were selected by our corporate sponsors, A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter and Watts Water Technologies, for the top prize of $10,000:
- Aquagga (Washington, USA) was selected for its PFAS destruction technology.
- Searen (Ohio, USA), was selected for its PFAS extraction/concentration technology.
- Pipesonic (based in Canada with a U.S. headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis.) was selected for its tools that conduct non-invasive assessments of watermains.
We also recently closed applications for our 2024 Brew 2.0 Post-Accelerator, with nearly 50 applications from around the globe. Now we will begin the task of narrowing down the group with the help of our guest judges, many of whom represent members and partners of The Water Council. We expect to announce the 2024 cohort in March. BREW is sponsored by Beckhoff Automation, Xylem and Thales Water Advisors.
As you can see, the first few weeks of 2024 have been busy. I know they have for many of you, too, considering how many items we have in our Member News & Opportunities section below. Make sure you are following us on LinkedIn, X/Twitter and Facebook for daily news about The Water Council, the water technology industry, water stewardship and our members.
Member News & opportunities
- News: Badger Meter acquires remote monitoring hardware from Trimble.
- News: Culligan acquires Primo Water businesses across Europe.
- News: Ferr-Tech takes first place in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce Innovation Top 100.
- News: Genesis Systems, part of our 2023 BREW 2.0 cohort, led a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show this month. Its technology capturing water from air was featured in the BBC, Barron’s, USA Today and more.
- Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Defense seeks ways to improve both its situational awareness and ability to interpret and visualize data in a meaningful way for decision makers tasked with the biosecurity implications of future pandemics. It is soliciting proposals for commercial technology to monitor wastewater and other novel data sources on a global scale through Jan. 22.
- Opportunity: Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District issues request for applications for its Green Infrastructure Partnership Program for public, private and nonprofit organizations that plan to install green infrastructure on their properties.
- Opportunity: The Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest is open for applications through Jan. 31. The initial application only requires a 250-word abstract.
- Opportunity: The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership is offering its next ExporTech™ virtual program for Wisconsin manufacturers who are serious about growing their exporting revenue.
- Event: The Water Council is a supporter of the Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport (WWETT) Show. Join thousands of suppliers, manufacturers and wastewater professionals in Indianapolis on January 24-27.
- Event: The Water Council is again an EarthxCapital Innovation Ecosystem Partner in 2024. We invite you to apply to participate in EarthX’s E-Capital Summit, which is an industry-leading sustainability investment summit taking place in Dallas, Texas, on April 23-25.
- Event: Smart Water Utilities Canada is happening May 15-16 in Toronto.
- Event: The Water Council is a proud supporting partner of Tech Tour Water Tech 2024. Around 35 companies will be selected to participate in the program and present their cutting-edge technology at the event in Aarhus, Denmark, on May 21-22. Application deadline is Feb. 8.
- Event: Singapore International Water Week is June 18-21. Contact Sherry Ng at the U.S. Department of Commerce to find out how to be part of the U.S. Pavilion.
