By Beverley Ferrara, TWC European Representative

After attending and speaking at professional conferences at WEFTEC Chicago, Aquatech Amsterdam and British Water in London, I walked away with a renewed sense of purpose.

Yes, we need a multi-dimensional approach to reinvent how we live and work with water.

Success requires collaboration between a wide variety of entities: companies large and small, entrepreneurs, regulatory bodies, consultants, manufacturers and governments. But collaboration itself isn’t enough. The scale and scope of water challenges means that we also need to pick up the pace.

And water “hubs” are our best bet for accelerating progress.

Hubs make a lot of sense because they help us move smarter and faster toward the destinations many of us have identified for our organizations and ourselves. Along the way, they encourage us to venture beyond traditional boundaries and geographies – just like water itself.

The Role and Value of Hubs

For people that are new to the concept of hubs, I like to describe them as clearinghouses that bring people together with a common interest who might not have come together otherwise. Their value is taking hold; seems they’re popping up all over the world.

Although scope, purpose and structure can vary, we all share a common goal: bringing people together solve the world’s water challenges by accelerating innovation and technology adoption.

The Water Council is a stellar example. The leading—and first—hub in the United States, TWC has grown into a globally networked organisation with 238-member companies, from multinational corporations to start-ups and entrepreneurs, working on everything from agricultural runoff to improving sensor technologies.

We help bring new ideas to life via an accelerator, pilot sites and research programs. By mixing competencies and relationships, we improve each other’s solutions and create the connections that are the catalysts for growth.

And for companies in the UK and Europe who are interested in expanding in the US, we help create the conditions for leveraging new opportunities by creating soft-landing facilities, accelerating new connections and expanding reach.

Here for you

As a reminder I can help broker introductions and meetings in Europe for Wisconsin based companies. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to explore how TWC can support your international business development strategies. bferrara@thewatercouncil.com.