The Water Council Board and I are very proud of and greatly appreciate the tireless work that the team provides, playing an important part in solving global water challenges by driving freshwater technologies and advancing stewardship across the U.S. and abroad. Read on to learn how we did that in 2024.
As fall is a time of transition, so too is The Water Council transitioning in our work as we plan for 2025 and beyond. We just wrapped up our first Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit with much positive feedback, and now we turn our attention to ramping up our small business offerings through our Regional Innovation Cluster Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Read more about both of those initiatives in our monthly newsletter.
The Water Council and Marquette University’s Sustainability Lab held our first-ever Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit last week, and what a way to kick off a new event! Nearly 200 people gathered at the Harley-Davidson Museum to discuss pressing topics in water and energy, including climate resilience, meeting the needs for the energy transition, the role of artificial intelligence in water and energy, and sustainable finance.
The Water Council recently participated in the Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) Sustainable Water Connect event with colleagues from Invest NI, Uisce Eireann (formerly Irish Water) and British Water. Our goal? To demystify expansion into new markets and highlight resources available to help companies take advantage of opportunities in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the United States.
The Water Council got our start supporting water technology businesses in Milwaukee’s World Water Hub, and that remains the heart of our mission today. So it was humbling and gratifying to learn recently that we have been awarded a $2.5 million Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) award from the U.S. Small Business Administration to continue building on that foundation as a mature innovation cluster.
The momentum continues to increase for our Water + Energy Forward Engine! September was packed with activities and announcements, including an important partnership on workforce development, a community forum to enhance engine inclusion and the expansion of our engine leadership team.
Water + Energy Forward (W+E Forward) is a consortium of 50+ organizations addressing the water-energy-waste nexus at small and medium-sized manufacturers and wastewater utilities in Wisconsin and beyond. In August, we submitted our pre-proposal to the National Science Foundation for a Regional Innovation Engines award of up to $160 million over 10 years. We hope to be invited to submit a full proposal by the end of October.
Water and energy are inseparable – energy generation relies heavily on water, while water treatment is deeply dependent on energy. Through its BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, The Water Council supports start-ups worldwide that have uncovered new possibilities and are building purpose-driven businesses. One such example is GKinetic Energy, an Irish firm that has developed a flow-accelerating hydrokinetic turbine capable of producing clean energy from canals, rivers and tidal flows.
AI is on everyone’s minds these days, so we are excited to bring a leading AI expert from Microsoft to our Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit. Read more about that and updates to our Water + Energy Forward Engine in our monthly newsletter.
We are proud to announce we have submitted the pre-proposal for our Water + Energy Forward Engine to the National Science Foundation, representing more than a year and a half of hard work for us and our partners. Learn about that and more in our August newsletter.
Last week, The Water Council staff and the other leaders of our Water + Energy Forward Engine breathed a sigh of relief as we submitted our pre-proposal — the culmination of more than a year and a half of work — to the National Science Foundation. And later that day, we held a meeting to dive into our next steps.