The Wave Of The Future?
By Rebecca O. Bagley, Contributor
Česky: Pitná voda - kohoutek Español: Agua potable (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As the population of the world grows, the demand for fresh clean water – by individuals, by governments, and by businesses and industry – increases. The current challenges associated with maintaining and sustaining an adequate supply of clean water are spurring opportunities to develop new innovations that will protect the environment and create jobs.
In Northeast Ohio, we have learned – the hard way – that water simply cannot be taken for granted. Over the past several decades we have poured considerable resources into fixing a water system that had become embarrassingly broken. The Cuyahoga River. Lake Erie. They became the rallying cry for an emerging environmental movement which continues to this very day.
“Northeast Ohio used to be the poster child for pollution problems, but the region has made progress since the 1960’s and developed an expertise in water remediation,” said Fran DiDonato with the Alliance for Water Future. “Now Northeast Ohio is recognized as a model for ecosystem recovery and has gone from a burning river towards a Green City on a Blue Lake.”
The region has learned how to capitalize on its work with water to spur new technologies to treat, conserve, and utilize water. Water technologies have become a component of Northeast Ohio’s economy – creating new industries and jobs, while simultaneously protecting the region’s precious water assets.
The region has learned how to capitalize on its work with water to spur new technologies to treat, conserve, and utilize water. Water technologies have become a component of Northeast Ohio’s economy – creating new industries and jobs, while simultaneously protecting the region’s precious water assets.
In addition to our existing programs focused on advanced energy and flexible electronics at NorTech, we are applying our cluster development model to the water technology sector to build upon Northeast Ohio’s existing strengths in water technology.
Through our InSevenSM roadmapping process we have identified three areas on which to focus: automation and controls, corrosion protection systems and sorbents – materials which remove contaminants from water. The worldwide market for these sectors extends well into the tens of billions of dollars.
The projections show that by 2019, those 3 sectors of our regional water technology cluster could generate more than 3,500 direct jobs.
The region, due in part to its past efforts on the local waterways, has the underpinnings of companies, which could generate such a convergence of expertise and capabilities.
Automation and controls may be our strongest sector today. As industry continues to expand in the underdeveloped parts of the world, companies and governments will increasingly need to adopt measures to efficiently treat and provide water for their burgeoning populations and expanding needs.
Anti-corrosion agents have long been an industrial strength in Northeast Ohio given our background in advanced materials, polymers and coatings. Given the region’s competitive edge in this sector, there is an opportunity to compete in the worldwide corrosion-protection market.
We’ve also learned that the need for removing contaminants from water will drive the market for sorbents. One of the strongest short-term needs for sorbents is the natural gas industry – driven in no small part by the explosion in hydraulic fracturing, which has taken a major toehold in Northeast Ohio.
While the need for fresh, clean water creates enormous challenges, it also creates opportunities to develop and implement new technologies that can improve the efficacy and lower the cost of treating water. Demand for these technologies is across the globe, and I suspect we will continue to see an increase in activity and investment in this area.
In fact, I recently returned from a Water Innovation Summit in Berkley that was hosted by the Cleantech Group. It was an interesting mix of government, companies, consultants, banks and venture capitalists. Water Technology is a challenging and exciting area for technology development and innovative solutions. I will cover more insights from the Summit in the Water .
In my last post, I talked about how critical clean and efficient use of water is to local economies as well as to our very existence. But, what challenges need to be addressed to maximize current opportunities?
Recently, the San Francisco-based Cleantech Group, convened top investors, utility executives, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and public sector leaders for a Water Innovation Summit. The Summit focused on three themes: smart water, resource recovery, and water re-use and looked at similarities and relationships between water and other natural resources. Financing and innovation opportunities and challenges were common discussion items.
“The interactive discussions amongst the top industry leaders in attendance at the Water Innovation Summit revealed several themes surrounding water and innovation,” said Sheeraz Haji, CEO, Cleantech Group. “There is significant demand for water innovation from oil and gas, mining, and agricultural industries. ‘Water as a Service’ and distributed water treatment emerged as top innovative business models.”
Water and the important role it plays in oil and gas exploration, whether it’s for enhanced oil recovery to drilling and well stimulation, or fracking was top of mind during the Summit.
There were also discussions around innovation that would be more relevant to utility markets such as smart metering, leak detection, pressure regulation, water quality monitoring and more.
One thing was clear – the demand for water innovation is growing. Good news is, according to summit attendees, many suitable technologies and applications already exist. Implementation, however, remains a high hurdle.
In many cases, the solutions reside with smaller companies that do not have the resources (financial and otherwise) to make an impact on their own. In Northeast Ohio, we’ve tackled those kinds of problems in other industries through our cluster efforts. Whether it’s a lack of resources or giving small, innovative companies the proverbial foot-in-the-door, clusters have been proven to be an effective leg up.
“Being part of a regional cluster of companies in the water industry helps to raise visibility of emerging water technology solutions,” said Missy Hayes, Director of Business Development and Marketing of MAR Systems Inc., a clean water technology company based in Cleveland, Ohio. “This increased visibility also helps regulators and policy makers recognize the technologies that exist in their own back yard so they can make informed decisions about important policies that will impact the industry.”
This is especially true when small companies are dealing with large customers – in this case, municipal water systems. Such municipal systems tend to shy away from unproven technologies until they can demonstrate their viability and their longevity. Clusters can help provide the kind of credibility and know how needed to overcome the small company’s barriers to entry.
“The industry needs to help utilities understand the emerging technologies that substantially improve the options to clean, treat, recycle and preserve water,” said Stephen Spoonamore, president of ABSMaterials, Inc., a startup company developing water technology solutions for municipal, industrial, and oil and gas applications.
He continued, “A lot of 21st century chemistry, including pesticides, herbicides and pharma products in use today simply can’t be treated or removed with 19th century filtration technology. We need to pair 21st century solutions with these emerging challenges. That’s why creating awareness is the first step towards companies and utilities working together to implement solutions that will drive down costs and improve both efficiency and water quality.”
ABSMaterials and MAR Systems are part of a growing cluster of water technology companies in Northeast Ohio, who attended the Water Innovation Summit. Both companies were recognized in for their work in the Top 50 Water Tech Listing™ by The Artemis Project™.
Market Opportunities and Challenges for Water Innovation
“The interactive discussions amongst the top industry leaders in attendance at the Water Innovation Summit revealed several themes surrounding water and innovation,” said Sheeraz Haji, CEO, Cleantech Group. “There is significant demand for water innovation from oil and gas, mining, and agricultural industries. ‘Water as a Service’ and distributed water treatment emerged as top innovative business models.”
Water and the important role it plays in oil and gas exploration, whether it’s for enhanced oil recovery to drilling and well stimulation, or fracking was top of mind during the Summit.
There were also discussions around innovation that would be more relevant to utility markets such as smart metering, leak detection, pressure regulation, water quality monitoring and more.
One thing was clear – the demand for water innovation is growing. Good news is, according to summit attendees, many suitable technologies and applications already exist. Implementation, however, remains a high hurdle.
In many cases, the solutions reside with smaller companies that do not have the resources (financial and otherwise) to make an impact on their own. In Northeast Ohio, we’ve tackled those kinds of problems in other industries through our cluster efforts. Whether it’s a lack of resources or giving small, innovative companies the proverbial foot-in-the-door, clusters have been proven to be an effective leg up.
“Being part of a regional cluster of companies in the water industry helps to raise visibility of emerging water technology solutions,” said Missy Hayes, Director of Business Development and Marketing of MAR Systems Inc., a clean water technology company based in Cleveland, Ohio. “This increased visibility also helps regulators and policy makers recognize the technologies that exist in their own back yard so they can make informed decisions about important policies that will impact the industry.”
This is especially true when small companies are dealing with large customers – in this case, municipal water systems. Such municipal systems tend to shy away from unproven technologies until they can demonstrate their viability and their longevity. Clusters can help provide the kind of credibility and know how needed to overcome the small company’s barriers to entry.
“The industry needs to help utilities understand the emerging technologies that substantially improve the options to clean, treat, recycle and preserve water,” said Stephen Spoonamore, president of ABSMaterials, Inc., a startup company developing water technology solutions for municipal, industrial, and oil and gas applications.
He continued, “A lot of 21st century chemistry, including pesticides, herbicides and pharma products in use today simply can’t be treated or removed with 19th century filtration technology. We need to pair 21st century solutions with these emerging challenges. That’s why creating awareness is the first step towards companies and utilities working together to implement solutions that will drive down costs and improve both efficiency and water quality.”
ABSMaterials and MAR Systems are part of a growing cluster of water technology companies in Northeast Ohio, who attended the Water Innovation Summit. Both companies were recognized in for their work in the Top 50 Water Tech Listing™ by The Artemis Project™.
In addition to access and awareness financing can be a major stumbling block in the water innovation space. Leaders at the summit wondered if the water industry can learn from financing models established in solar, energy efficiency and other cleantech markets.
On October 15-16, I, along with approximately 300 industry professionals will convene in Cleveland for the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds’ Annual Conference to discuss innovation capital for emerging industries like, water technology. We will discuss best practices and strategies for successfully investing in high-potential companies and new technologies. I will be sure to share themes from this conference in a future post.
Although the challenges facing the water industry are global, more and more we’re finding that the solutions are more locally based – where local companies can more effectively and efficiently address the unique twists on their own home-grown issues. And that’s where increased and enhanced collaboration tend to carry the day.
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