SAN ANTONIO, TX, JUNE 29, 2016 – Accelerate H20 convened its second annual Texas Water Technology Investor Forum last Thursday and Friday, June 16-17th, in Austin, Texas, hosting 10 panels and roundtables, 35 national and global keynote speakers, 40 technology companies, 28 investment firm representatives and a reception honoring four Texas Water Innovators. During the Forum, Carole Baker (Executive Director – Texas Water Foundation), David Maidment (UT Center for Water Research), Ed Archuleta (former President – El Paso Water Utility), and John Montford (former State Senator and former Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System) were recognized as “Texas Water Innovators.” In honor of their life-long commitment to Texas, AccelerateH2O announced WaterQuest (“open source innovation competitions”) will be launched in projects relevant to Youth and Student Innovation, Data and Instrument Integration, Brackish Desalination and Advanced Treatment.
FATHOM (a national software as a service water system digital platform) and ATI Water (Austin Technology Incubator) announced a partnership with AccelerateH2O to launch the Innovative Water Technology Demonstration Hub for Data and Instrument Integration in Central Texas in response to demands for enhanced information, sensors, meters, and other technologies for realtime water monitoring of quality and quantity. One immediate focus of the Demonstration Hub is in response to ongoing challenges in “Flash Flood Alley” – the National Weather Servicedesignated area from Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio.
And based on discussions during the Forum, AccelerateH2O has committed to convene working groups on:
• “The Economics of Proven and Breakthrough Technologies, Solutions in the Oil and Gas Sector” to develop a statewide strategy for the reuse and recycling of water in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins from the exploration, production, and completion process;
• “Special Purpose Vehicle for Technology Innovation Projects” to generate near-term market-driven investments in the $10 million to $30 million range adjacent to the locations of the Demonstration Hubs;
• “Streamlining Innovation Among State Assets, Programs, and Agencies” to identify and deploy proven and emerging technologies and best practice management for water conservation, reuse, and mitigation of flood, storm impacts on and adjacent to state facilities and infrastructure as part of Demonstration Hub initiatives, and therefore streamline approvals and permitting of integrated solutions.
Additional members of AccelerateH2O’s statewide advisory committee were announced during the Forum:
• Carlos Rubinstein, former Chairman, Texas Water Development Board
• Norb Cole, former Global Senior Executive, Coca-Cola
• John Tracy, Director, Texas Water Research Institute
• Amanda Broch, Founder and CEO, Water Standard
This year’s InvestH2O Forum included updates on global and national venture, private equity, and public infrastructure investments representing examples of both early-stage commercialization and large-scale projects. Global Water Intelligence’s Paul Hasler, KPMG Infrastructure Investment Advisors’ Travis Hemphill, and BlueField Research’s Reese Tisdale kicked off the two-day agenda with a recap of 2015 and the first half of 2016. Keynote panels, breakout sessions, and invitation-only roundtables were organized to present emerging, growth-stage and proven technologies in a number of sectors including Oil and Gas, Food and Beverage, Commercial Real Estate and Residential Property. Water technology and investment experts introduced challenges in water treatment, reuse, and conservation, as well as received presentations from 40 US and international technologies addressing issues in seawater and brackish desalination, produced water from the energy field, leak detection, and over 30+ similar areas of market interest.
“InvestH2O is the only Texas water technology event that has consistently sought to to connect all forms of capital with market-ready products, services, and integrated platform breakthroughs,” noted Russ Conser, former Senior Vice President, Shell USA’s GameChanger program, and member of the AccelerateH2O Advisory Committee.
The agenda, speaker bios, presentations, videos, and photos from the 2016 Forum can be found at http://www.InvestH2O.com.
About Accelerate H2O
There will always be water challenges in Texas as well as barriers and limitations to innovating water. AccelerateH2O was formed to identify the most efficient and effective pathway for technology development and deployment across Texas’ residential, industrial, agricultural, and utility end-users. With over eighteen university research centers, 4600 water agencies, 5000+ medium and large corporate campuses, and thousands of farms and ranches, Texas represents an undiscovered $9 billion water technology marketplace. We connect the market of ideas, resources, expertise, and products to position the State as a Global Water Innovation Hub.
Additional information, including background on Executive and Advisory Committee members, past reports and programs, and the Texas Water Innovation Clearinghouse can be found at www.AccelerateH2O.org
