Column by Hein Molenkamp

Partnership

By the time you read this, The European Water Technology Week (EWTW 2022) will already have taken place. We will revisit it in the first edition of WaterProof 2023, but you can already find news and reports on our website and social media. EWTW 2022 in Leeuwarden, as well as other recent, well-attended events such as WEX Global 2022 in Valencia and IFAT in Munich, showed once again that nothing is foreign to the water technology sector: we want to come together, learn and be inspired; and we want to work together. The fact that the Water Alliance and branch association ENVAQUA have decided to continue as one strong organization, still under the name Water Alliance, proves that working together can sometimes even lead to merging. Under the joint initiative we will, starting from January 1st, represent over 200 member companies and organizations

At the end of the day, WaterCampus Leeuwarden and the Water Alliance are all about working together. For years, this magazine has aimed to tell the personal stories of innovators and entrepreneurs, somewhere on their path between ideas and successful businesses. In each edition, we encounter collaborations. Whether they are structural or for special projects, what stands out is that the outcome is always more than the sum of its parts. This is common practice at WaterCampus Leeuwarden. Someone with a good idea can take it from the brainstorming table to the lab and from the lab to a test site in the Water Application Center (WAC). Once the innovation has been properly developed, it can move to a full-scale demo site with launching customers, eventually reaching a product that finds its way to customers worldwide.

Of course, not every step of that process needs to be completed every time; as we recruit new members, we increasingly encounter companies that have long learned the ropes of business. They want to develop further and contact the Water Alliance to see where we can help. In most cases, we can help with matchmaking or marketing, which still puts a smile on my face every day.

This edition of WaterProof includes numerous examples of companies and their ambitions and events where water technologists, government and entrepreneurs meet. I hope it inspires you to come up with new ideas for collaboration. If it does, please visit us in person or online. Our door is always open.

Hein Molenkamp Managing Director, Water Alliance