SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, Dec. 16, 2014 -- The Texas Research & Technology Foundation (TRTF), a nonprofit organization driving economic development in biosciences and technology, has officially launched AccelerateH2O -- the Texas Water Technology Accelerator -- a new, state-of-the-art center focused on advancing new and existing water technologies.
Serving as a catalyst for Texas' more than $9-billion water technology market, AccelerateH2O aggregates the state's 18 academic research centers, 4,300 water entities, 5,000 medium- and large-scale corporate facilities, and hundreds of farmers and ranchers to commercialize, invest in, demonstrate, deliver, and grow these technologies. This serves to benefit the state's economic competitiveness, citizens and businesses alike, as well as generate world-class breakthroughs to resolve long-standing challenges.
AccelerateH2O is an independent nonprofit organization with a statewide executive committee, advisory board and general board. Additional committees are in formation, comprised of the state's academic and nonprofit research institutions, while another will be comprised of investment and technology commercialization experts. Partnerships have also been formed with several national and international water research foundations, investment organizations and technology commercialization programs.
According to AccelerateH2O's website, the organization provides the following three services:
- It serves urban, rural, residential, industrial, agricultural, and environmental sustainability markets by identifying alternative programs, methodologies and applications that ensure water is conserved and better managed through new data analytics and similar technical solutions
- It conducts extensive "Asset Mapping" by leveraging existing knowledge, research and development, papers and patents, and other know-how found among academic and not-for-profit research centers of excellence within the state's university systems and institutions. This data will be available to members of the organization.
- It discovers, invests in and promotes new and existing technologies that have potential to fill demands and needs in Texas' $9-billion water technology market by addressing critical water issues, barriers and unique opportunities.
AccelerateH2O's website also lists the organization's six areas of focus:
- Organize: AccelerateH2O aggregates Texas' aforementioned academic research centers, water entities, corporate facilities, and farmers and ranchers into the state's $9-billion water technology market. Further, organizing the "Texas Water Community" is critical to a more efficient and effective response to the current water crisis and this unique opportunity.
- Identify: Through a fast-paced approach to identifying the technical requirements, technology applications, operational, and economic scenarios for deploying technologies, "Water Technology Teams" comprised of Texas' best academic, industry, entrepreneurial, public sector, and nonprofit brain-power are focusing on traditional, non-traditional and innovative technologies.
- Prioritize: From desalination to irrigation and water security to conservation, AccelerateH2O prioritizes the 10-12 statewide water challenges, issues and problems into specific constraints that require immediate technical and technological products, services and solutions. Moreover, it conducts a series of 'scoping and prioritizing sessions' to identify the 20-25 critical technologies for commercialization.
- Evaluate/Prototype: Within a network of statewide engineering expertise, facilities and locations, AccelerateH2O organizes and arranges testing, evaluation and prototyping (TEP) of new and emerging technologies.
- Invest: AccelerateH2O conducts market vetting, assessment for startup, growth, and scale-up. Upon completion of TEP, the organization showcases technologies via its website and demonstration projects and conducts investor and procurement forums.
- Promote: AccelerateH2O promotes the state of Texas as a location for innovative solutions and as a Global Water Technology Cluster. In turn, this ensures that Texas policy-makers are informed on the role of water technology to solve challenges and generate economic benefit.
See also:
"Water Council launches groundbreaking Water Collaborative Innovation Platform"
About AccelerateH2O
AccelerateH2O is a catalyst for Texas' $9-billion water technology market by organizing assets, expertise, knowledge, and resources to more efficiently and effectively respond to the current water crisis and position itself as a competitive global water technology hub. For more information, visit www.accelerateh2o.org.
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