Deadline: Ongoing
The Water Council is managing Tech Challenges seeking innovative solutions for treatment and removal of microplastics and nanoplastics in domestic drinking water for residential and commercial systems.
The semi-annual Tech Challenge program connects water innovators to innovative water users through topic-specific open innovation contests. Tech Challenge finalists win the opportunity to present their innovation to company sponsors to compete for prize money, access to corporate R&D resources and the opportunity to partner on the development, marketing, licensing or sale of the technology or idea. Tech Challenge company sponsors save time in surfacing water and water-adjacent technologies by tapping into their powerful global network to find new ideas, talent and investment opportunities quickly and efficiently. Solutions at Technology Readiness Level 3 or higher are sought for use in applications including:
- Point of use / Point of entry drinking water
- Process monitoring of small commercial systems
- Industrial applications
- Municipal water supply
- Well water
Benefits
- Winners are chosen and get the opportunity to present to sponsors and compete for:
- A top prize of $10,000
- Opportunity for potential joint commercialization with market leaders
- Access to sponsoring companies’ R&D team expertise and feedback
Key Success Criteria
- TRL 3 or higher (Feasibility Demonstration: Initial development of technology has been completed. Basic components of the technology are well understood. Minimum: Laboratory Scale)
- Low cost
- Long lasting
- Low energy usage
- Rapid response
- Non-toxic reagents or no reagents required
- Minimizes false positives or false negatives
Eligibility Criteria
- Water technology innovators from anywhere in the world—including inventive individuals, university students or researchers, water professionals or private sector and government labs—are invited to apply.
- They’re looking for companies:
- in Water, Sensors, Water Treatment, Water Quality, Water Management, Water Supply, Quality Monitoring
- located in Africa, Asia, Australia/NZ, Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America
- incorporated or not
- prototype, users or paying users stage
- have raised funding or not
- currently raising or not raising funds
- have revenue or not
For more information, visit The Water Council.