The Water Council

As we celebrate The Water Council's 15th anniversary, Dean Amhaus, our founding president and CEO, reflects on our history, major milestones and future. Check out our blog for more on our impact over 15 years as the hub Where Water Works: https://lnkd.in/gr5NHTT2 #WhereWaterWorks #WorldWaterHub #WaterTechnology #WaterStewardship A. O. Smith Corporation Badger Meter Greater Milwaukee Committee MMAC Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation

In 2024, The Water Council and Marquette Business hosted our first-ever Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit. This event built on our long-time Water Leaders Summit and Marquette’s Sustainability 2.0 Conference. The event was a success, with strong attendance (a 50 percent increase over last year’s Water Leaders Summit), engaging speakers, and lots of discussion and new connections made in the audience. We learned a lot with the first combined event and expect to come back better than ever next year -- stay tuned for details! Photos by Kevin McIntosh #NexusSummit

Progress continued in 2024 on our Water + Energy Forward Engine, an initiative through the National Science Foundation (NSF). Although we learned in October that we won’t receive a launch award that would have helped fund the engine in future years, many positives came out of this two-year process, including: ⭐Launch of the Water & Wastewater Workforce Center, a collaboration between Veolia North America and The Water Council that will help address urgent workforce needs in the water sector. ⭐Announcement from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District of a $13 million permanent pilot facility to help companies test emerging water technologies. The Water Council will continue to work closely with MMSD as it finalizes designs for the facility and seeks pilot projects. ⭐New or strengthened partnerships with many organizations, including Microsoft, Rockwell Automation, Water Environment Federation, MKE Tech Hub Coalition, Wisconsin Technology Council, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Center for Dairy Research, Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity (WCMP), City of Racine & Madison Region Economic Partnership. ⭐Insight into persistent problems in the water and energy sector, including workforce development and water and energy resiliency for small businesses, and potential solutions, such as circular watershed economies. The Water Council and our other engine leaders plan to keep the momentum going on key initiatives that grew out of this work. Visit weforward.org to learn more about this effort.

Continuing our #YearInReview, it was another outstanding year for our BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator. The eight companies in the 2024 cohort hail from from the U.S., Canada, France and Ireland in areas such as artificial intelligence for water utilities, nutrient-harvesting from algae and water-saving devices. GKinetic Energy Ltd of Ireland, which provides clean energy generation from manmade and natural waterways, announced plans in fall to launch its U.S. operations from The Water Council’s headquarters at the Global Water Center. Startups have until Jan. 3 to apply to our 2025 BREW cohort. Late-stage startups that are market-ready or in-market with early sales are encouraged to apply. We are grateful to our BREW sponsors Xylem and Beckhoff Automation as well as our programming partner Thales Water Advisors. Visit thewatercouncil.com/BREW to learn more. Avivid Water Technology LLC CANN Forecast Diamidex Gross-Wen Technologies Kadeya Shower Stream SmartD Technologies #WaterTechnology

There's no place like home for the holidays! Whether your home is in the #WorldWaterHub of #Milwaukee or anywhere around the world, The Water Council wishes you happy holidays and a wonderful New Year.

As the year draws to a close, we're looking back at some of our highlights from 2024. This fall, The Water Council was awarded a Regional Innovation Cluster award from the U.S. Small Business Administration as a mature water technology cluster. This five-year, $2.5 million contract is one of just 14 awarded this year and the only one focused on water. Through this award, we will build on our long-established innovation platform by offering increased support for U.S. water technology businesses from early-stage startups to established small and medium-sized enterprises. We also have a keen interest in assisting foreign companies that are seeking to establish operations in the U.S. This includes enhanced offerings in our BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, matchmaking and training, customized support and resources for small businesses, capacity-building and providing access to new market resources. We are also growing our staff and updating our website to support this work. Stay tuned in early 2025 for more! #YearinReview #WaterTechnology #SmallBusiness #WhereWaterWorks #WorldWaterHub

An insightful article from Mindy Lubber of Ceres, Inc. in Forbes this week about corporate water stewardship. We agree with the headline and her major points, including: -addressing water in the supply chain -the importance of addressing water quality in addition to quantity -the interconnectedness of water and other #sustainability topics, such as ecosystems and biodiversity The Water Council's WAVE: Water Stewardship Verified program helps organizations take a holistic view of their #WaterStewardship across the enterprise. Visit WaveVerified.com to learn more. https://lnkd.in/gDehWJvg

Similar to what Veolia North America has done in New Jersey, The Water Council looks forward to building our partnership with this global water technology company in creating a water and wastewater workforce center in Milwaukee that will benefit water tech businesses and utilities in the region. This collaboration was one of the several ongoing activities as a result of our National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engine award. This collaboration came about through the tremendous leadership of Frederic VAN HEEMS, Karine Rougé and Dave Ross who pulled it all together. Look forward to working with them in 2025.

This next-stage global post-accelerator program is open and accepting applications! Check out the requirements below and apply on The Water Council's website or via F6S. Deadline is coming up (Jan 3)!

Our membership continues to grow as 2024 comes to a close! We are excited to welcome new members BIOBOX Water, Hunter Crown, LLC, Jacobs and Lakeside Water Treatment. 💧Biobox Water of Spain creates containerized or prefabricated modularized water treatment plants. 💧Hunter Crown, LLC, is a recruiter for the water and wastewater industry based in Maryland. 💧Jacobs of Dallas, Texas, provides end-to-end services in advanced manufacturing, cities and places, energy, environmental, life sciences, transportation and water. 💧Lakeside Water Treatmentis a water treatment solutions provider based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that specializes in water softeners, reverse osmosis systems and multimedia filtration. Welcome to the hub #WhereWaterWorks!