The Water Council Wins Regional Innovation Cluster Award

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet announced that The Water Council has been selected as one of four new Regional Innovation Cluster awardees.

These cluster initiatives focus on the most effective approaches to linking small businesses to regional networks of leading research, commercialization tools and financing. The Water Council will focus on the creation of a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Freshwater Innovation and Small Business Development. The CoE will promote the growth and development of small businesses operating in the water technology sector, initially in the Midwest and then expanding across the United States.

The four Regional Innovation Cluster awardees, ranging from $500,000 to $550,000, were selected from more than 40 applicants and represent a wide range of diverse geographic areas and industries.

The development of the Center of Excellence for Freshwater Innovation and Small Business Development will elevate The Water Council’s role as a global water leader. In partnership with InnovationExchange and inno360, The Water Council will develop the Water Collaborative Innovation Platform, a Web-based search, innovation management and analytics tool that will enable water industry and academic researchers worldwide to conduct the most complete mining of water research information that has ever existed.

“The world is undergoing a catastrophic water crisis. No longer is water a calamity for arid developing countries—it is now an issue that everyone must face no matter where we call home,” said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO, The Water Council. “The Center of Excellence will help train small businesses as they navigate the international marketplace and deploy their innovative technologies to help solve these water challenges.”

Supporting The Water Council’s CoE will be a team of experts that will include the Alliance for Water Stewardship, Defense Alliance, International Water Assn., Imagine H2O, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Institute for Water Business, U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Service, Water Environment Federation, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The CoE will further establish Milwaukee’s water technology cluster as the go-to destination for small businesses seeking resources for growth, and continue to strengthen the cluster by attracting new and innovative talent from around the country.

Source: The Water Council