Posted by Janet B. Stroud — March 22, 2024 — In time for the United Nations World Water Day on March 22, The Water Council, a nonprofit and global hub dedicated to solving critical global water challenges by driving freshwater innovation and advancing water stewardship, has just announced the selection of the 2024 cohort for its BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator.
Image courtesy of UN
As Michael Arny and Mary Reames of the Leonardo Academy stated in an earlier FMLink article, facilities managers can contribute to meeting UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Water and Sanitation by implementing technologies and practices that reduce the use of potable water to plumbing fixtures and cooling towers. They recommended choosing suppliers who make water use reduction a priority, and looking for ways to incorporate the use of gray water, such as harvesting rainwater for later use in irrigation.
With those goals in mind, The Water Council’s Business, Research and Entrepreneurship in Water (BREW) Accelerator 2.0 is a next-stage post-accelerator created to help young companies build connections and grow their company’s capacity. This virtual and in-person hybrid program focuses on expert-led sales and growth training tailored for water tech 
businesses. Afterward, participants have access to ongoing training opportunities to continue their growth trajectory.
The Council notes that it received more applications than ever this year, making it difficult to narrow the cohort down to 10. These globe-spanning companies are about to enter or recently entered the market with innovations for a wide variety of water challenges:
- AquaB (Ireland): AquaB Nanobubble Innovations Ltd is a University College Dublin spin-off company. Its unique electric field method for nanobubble generation leads to significant energy savings and greater flexibility in application in areas such as oil and gas recovery, water treatment and wastewater treatment.
- Avivid Water Technology (U.S.): Avivid Water treats heavily contaminated industrial wastewater for reuse or release with its TurboCoag water treatment system. Avivid’s patented electrocoagulation reactor removes PFAS, heavy metals, suspended solids and more without the use of toxic chemicals.
- bNovate Technologies (Switzerland): bNovate’s flagship device, BactoSense, is an automated and online bacterial monitoring system designed for rapid detection of bacteria in drinking water.
- CANN Forecast (Canada): CANN Forecast specializes in AI-driven solutions for proactive water and wastewater management. It offers two main products: InteliPipes, for identifying the most at-risk pipes, and InteliFlow, for wastewater flow forecasting.
- Diamidex (France): Diamidex has developed a unique platform of equipment and reagents that allow users to enumerate all kind of targeted culturable microbes in water before they become visible to the eye.
- GKinetic (Ireland): GKinetic provides clean, reliable energy generation from manmade and natural waterways, empowering communities and water-reliant industries worldwide and contributing to global sustainability and energy security.
- Gross-Wen Technologies (U.S.): GWT’s patented Revolving Algal Biofilm (RAB) technology harnesses the power of algae to recover nutrients the way nature intended.
- Kadeya (U.S.): Kadeya’s patented “bottling as a service” kiosk washes, sanitizes, inspects and refills bottles to eliminate 99.9% of plastic waste, 75% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 37% of the costs versus packaged beverages.
- Shower Stream (U.S.) Shower Stream offers a high-quality smart shower head that solves behavioral waste in hotels.
- SmartD (Canada): By improving motor efficiency and reducing wear and tear on equipment, the SmartD Technologies Clean Power Variable Frequency Drive helps businesses save energy, lower costs, minimize their carbon footprint, and maximize productivity and efficiency, with implications for water and wastewater treatment.
Mark your calendars now for June 26, when BREW participants will present their innovations at The Water Council’s annual Demo Day.
