After the successful participation at BlueTech Forum in 2023, REWAISE was present in Edinburgh in its 2024 edition. Since 2010, BlueTech Research, a REWAISE partner, organises this event to promote leading water technologies, convening company executives, venture capital, researchers, and early adopter utilities. Again REWAISE participated as sponsor of the event to show project results and present key innovations.
Dr. Sonja Ostojin, from EMS, alongside Julen Mendizabal from Severn Trent (STW), explained synergies between suppliers and utilities in the REWAISE project, as part of the 5×5 Partnership Stories session where 5 solutions are pitched, each in 5 minutes.
The UK Environment Act 2021 challenges water companies to progressively reduce adverse impacts of CSO discharges, as does the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. As Sonja and Julen presented at BlueTech Forum, CENTAUR® is being demonstrated in REWAISE by EMS in a STW network as an intelligent, autonomous, localised system which utilises existing drainage network storage capacity.
In a second session of the 5×5 partnership stories, Søren Robenhagen from Aquaporin and Frank Rogalla from Aqualia presented several pilots with bio-mimetic membranes in Spain to achieve low energy RO (Reverse Osmosis) to remove sulphates, nitrates, fluoride or treat brackish ground waters.
According to Søren, “participating in the BlueTech Forum was incredibly inspiring, and summarizing the results of the collaboration between Aqualia and Aquaporin in REWAISE in just five minutes was both a significant challenge and an excellent opportunity. During the networking sessions that followed, this experience led to many fruitful discussions with experts from established companies, startups, investors, and institutions.”
Another way to introduce new approaches was the Innovation Showcase, where Izabela Ratman-Kłosińska, from IETU (Instytut Ekologii Terenów Uprzemysłowionych), presented the ETV methodology under the LIFEproETV project, also applied for key technologies of REWAISE.
An important mechanism to grow start-ups within REWAISE is the WINCubator, an accelerator which was presented on stage by Ola Hansson. He described his BTF experience as “very interesting stories on the development of sponge cities, the value of water for chilling the cities and the planet, with water reuse, and water fit for purpose popular in the partnership sessions. The forum atmosphere was very open minded, to create a lot of interesting collaborations and show the potential for market uptake of REWAISE solutions”.
All REWAISE attendees participated in the Thinking Hats sessions, that Sonja Ostojin described it as energetic and dynamic, as delegates were able to circulate through multiple small discussion hubs where they brainstormed solutions for a particular industry challenge, posed by a moderator, before moving on to the next hub.
To encourage creative solutions and collaboration, professionals of various backgrounds evaluate ideas around water challenges, and Frank Rogalla led a Thinking Hats table on brine mining, while Julen Mendizabal animated a table on Net Zero solutions, presenting the experience of STW and the Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor.
From Lund University, Prof. Frank Lipnizki chaired the Thinking Hats round table on stormwater harvesting and alternative water resources. There, he had the chance to describe the Röda Oasen pilot in Malmö (Sweden), where stormwater is collected and reused for toilet flushing and washing machines (a solution promoted by his new spin-off company, Celestial Water Technology AB), and where nutrients are recovered by the other start-up, Sanitation 360.
The theme of BTF 2023 ‘Innovation with Impact’ (BTF 2023 Conference Highlights ) was developed in 2024 with “Innovation in Action”, implementing the Go-to-Market strategy for key REWAISE solutions managed by BlueTech with their methodology to connect key decision-makers to a recurrent network, helping to evaluate new market trends, and bridging the gap between solution providers and problem owners.
At the centre is the interactive “discovery zone”, where all participants meet to visit the displays, and where REWAISE maintained a stand for all water professionals to stop by and continue the discussions on future joint actions.
