Water Test Network launched

Posted on: 01/02/2019

The Water Test Network project will establish a transnational network of testing facilities which can be used by SMEs in North-West Europe.

The Water Test Network (WTN) project was launched by a consortium of 12 partner organisations led by Scottish Water at the end of 2018.  It will develop, test and verify new products for the water sector.  In this way, new innovations will be developed and the time it takes for these products to get to market can be accelerated.

WTN provides a platform to put forward offers and opportunities to SMEs in North West Europe – two of the latest are:

  • an integrated package of support in the form of Innovation Support Vouchers. These vouchers will be tailored to the needs of the SMEs and guarantee a certain level of fully-funded support.
  • during the project the Water Test Network project will issue at least five Innovation Challenges.¬† Water sector end users (public utilities, large industries) have the opportunity to submit existing water problems to which a solution is sought from innovative SMEs.¬† The SMEs will be engaged to these challenges in a ‚Äòmeet the buyer‚Äô type of exercise. If you have a water issue which you want to be solved by innovative SMEs, email watertestnetwork@scottishwater.co.uk.

 

In a competitive global water market, pre-commercial testing is difficult and costly at operational scale and investors are reluctant to invest in unproven technology.  It can take 15-20 years to bring new technology to the market.  To increase market opportunities in this fast-growing sector, WTN will help SMEs from across NWE to test their innovative water technologies at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5-8.  This will be achieved by creating a transnational network of operational scale demonstrator sites in UK, FR, DE, NL and BE, which will offer a range of water types, clean and waste water, in rural and urban settings, for specialist applications such as pharma or agricultural.

By working closely with SMEs, offering them an integrated package of support and linking them to the best possible site for their needs, validation and commercialisation of near to market water solutions will be accelerated, providing an investor ready pipeline of new products and processes.

To find out more, visit the WTN website here.

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