US$ 1.9 million fund awarded in Davos to selected entrepreneurs tackling the Global Freshwater Crisis.
Securing the world’s global freshwater ecosystems, under increasing threat from climate change, population growth and consumer demand, has become more critical than ever. To tackle this escalating crisis, UpLink, the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum, in partnership with global conglomerate HCL Group, has announced 10 water-focused entrepreneurs who will share CHF1.75 million ($1.9 million) from HCL Group to scale their innovations.
Access to water plays a critical role in food production, education, job creation, health and well-being and the preservation of the natural world and is vital to achieving the UN’s 2030 sustainability agenda. However, global demand for water will exceed sustainable supply by 40% by 2030, with huge implications for the global economy and society.
The 10 start-ups are the winners of the Global Freshwater Innovation Challenge, the first of five challenges under HCL and UpLink’s Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative. Launched in September 2022, the challenge called for innovative solutions that would strengthen data-driven decision making, improve freshwater resilience in the face of climate change and restore water quality around the world.
Through a $15 million investment over five years, HCL Group is supporting UpLink and the Forum’s Global Water Initiative to launch a series of innovation challenges and create an innovation ecosystem for the global freshwater sector on UpLink.
The 10 water-focused entrepreneurs, or “aquapreneurs”,were chosen from 227 solutions submitted to the challenge, and will now each receiveCHF175,000($190,000) in vital funding from HCL Group. Two of these innovators were selected to present their solutions at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos:
- Epic Cleantec, based in the US, is a water technology company leading the water reuse revolution in the urban built environment. Aaron Tartakovsky, CEO of Epic Cleantec, said: “With the combined challenges of ageing infrastructure, growing urban populations and a rapidly changing climate, the conventional approach to how we manage water is no longer sustainable. Epic is on a mission to ensure that our cities are water-secure for generations to come. ”Epic aims to use its next-generation technologies to drive circularity in water use and to work with policy-makers to reshape the water infrastructure in cities.
- Kilimo, based in Argentina, uses big data and machine learning to verify, improve, and offset water usage in agriculture. Tatiana Malvasio, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, said: “As founders from Latin America, we have first-hand experience with the tension between agriculture and water stress in our region. In response to this challenge, we set out to create a product that could help farmers reduce their water usage and be more efficient in their irrigation practices.” Kilimo uses artificial intelligence to help farmers optimize irrigation and then be compensated for their participation in water stewardship initiatives.
The other entrepreneurs to be awarded prize money from HCL and support from UpLink are:
- bNovate Technologies (Switzerland) – An automatic, remote biosensor to monitor and detect bacterial concentration in water supplies
- Indra Water (India) – Electrically driven, decentralized wastewater treatment solution with no added chemicals in its primary treatment
- Majik Water Technologies (Kenya) – An atmospheric water generator system that uses proven condensation-based techniques to capture water moisture from the air
- NatureDots Private Limited: AquaNurch (India) – Derisking fisheries and water managers from ecological stressors, enabling remote-control and real-time monitoring of aqua-farms
- Oneka Technologies (Canada) – A wave-powered desalination solution to produce drinking water using renewable energy created through waves
- Openversum (Switzerland) – A locally assembled and managed membrane filter that removes pathogen heavy metals from water
- RainGrid Inc. (Canada) – Building community-scale, property-based, digital networks for net-zero residential property rainfall runoff while generating verifiable ecosystem credits
- Wateroam Pte Ltd (Singapore) – Production of safe, speedy and high-quality drinking water without electricity
Information Source: Read More
Energy Monitors | Electric Power | Natural Gas | Oil | Climate | Renewable | Wind | Transition | LPG | Solar | Electric | Biomass | Sustainability | Oil Price |
