The Water Council seeks technologies to better manage water quality within water systems and enable smarter, faster decision-making for its fall 2025 Tech Challenge.
The semi-annual Tech Challenge is open to anyone with a novel solution for the selected topic, including researchers, individuals, entrepreneurs, startups and established companies. Participants compete for a prize of up to $10,000 and, more importantly, the chance to get their innovation in front of leading water technology companies with the potential for further partnership down the road.
Topics are selected and winners are chosen by the program sponsors, A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter, Watts Water Technologies and Xylem. All finalists present directly to research and development representatives from the sponsor companies.
“We selected a broader topic this session than we typically do,” said Katie Kollhoff Mouat, The Water Council director of innovation programs. “We want to cast a wider net to expose our industry partners to innovative solutions that we might not catch in a more targeted challenge.”
The challenge seeks technology solutions and/or new systems, processes or tools for decision-making support for water quality addressing any stage of the water cycle related to human consumption, including drinking water and wastewater systems across residential, commercial and utility-scale applications well as their distribution networks. Solutions should be at technology readiness level (TRL) 3 and above and provide a new level of decision-making support for water quality.
Applications are due Oct. 10.
Since launching the Tech Challenge in 2019, The Water Council has awarded $240,000 in funding to 24 innovators from 11 countries.