News
22 January 2025Dutch Clean Tech, NWP member and the largest investment company in water projects in the Netherlands, won the first BID Social Impact award. CEO Sander Pielkenrood accepted the award at the advisory board and speakers' dinner on the eve of the Big Improvement Day (BID).
The BID Social Impact Award is a Big Improvement Day (BID) initiative. It is an annual event that highlights, stimulates and accelerates positive changes in the Netherlands. The award was created this year to honour companies and organisations that are committed and take action to tackle social and societal challenges, both at the national and international scale.
The first award was presented to Dutch Clean Tech for the company's innovative approach to combating global water scarcity, one of today’s most urgent issues. With 2.2 billion people currently living in water scarcity worldwide, the United Nations predicts that this number will grow to more than six billion by 2050 if no action is taken. This is equivalent to 75 percent of the world’s population.
The jury, consisting of Lowina Broens (Netherlands Enterprise Agency), Lord Jason Alan Scott (multi-exit founder & speaker) and NWP’s Director Rick Elmendorp, praised the company’s innovative economy sharing model as an example of sustainable impact.
The award was presented by Roel Beetsma (Dean and Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Amsterdam) at the dinner, which took place on the eve of the 18th Big Improvement Day.
Dutch Clean Tech, founded in 2022, combines developing modern water purification plants with a groundbreaking water economy-sharing model, which offers a solution for the investment costs which are often unfeasible for local companies and governments in low-income countries. This model allows Dutch investors to finance essential drinking water and sewage treatment plants in exchange for an attractive return.
Local governments and organisations pay a monthly subscription to use these plants, introducing the sharing economy to the water industry. This combination of technology, financing and impact results in direct access to clean water for millions of people and has led to impressive growth and the creation of projects in Mexico and Guatemala in recent years.
The significant steps that Dutch Clean Tech has managed to take in recent years and the valuable contribution of the company to solving global water scarcity earned Dutch Clean Tech the BID Social Impact Award. Jury member Rick Elmendorp said that "Dutch Clean Tech has created a real win-win situation. Private and professional investors in the Netherlands have the resources that governments in low-income countries do not have. The economy-sharing model ensures that this does not hinder improvement and that direct access to clean water is created for local communities. A worthy winner!”
Sander Pielkenrood, CEO of Dutch Clean Tech said that “We are proud to have received the first BID Social Impact award. This recognition shows that our approach works and it motivates us to make an even greater impact. Our mission to combat global water scarcity remains our greatest driving force”.
The Big Improvement Day (BID) was set up in 2008 in recognition of the need to highlight and further develop positive developments in the Netherlands. Since then, the top of the Dutch government and business community have come together every year on the third Tuesday of January for ‘the most positive day of the year’ and this ‘day of the decision-makers’. Over the past 15 years, BID has grown into a platform for meetings, new ideas, and progressive collaboration between the public and private sectors. With names such as Louis van Gaal (former international soccer player and team manager), Loek Hermans (Dutch politician and businessman), and Prince Constantijn of Orange-Nassau (member of the Royal family in the Netherlands, and Member of the National Growth Fund Committee), the top of the Dutch government, business, sports, healthcare and education comes together several times a year at Improvement Days to make contact, share knowledge and visions, and enter into partnerships.
Featured NWP members: Dutch Clean Tech Solutions BV, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)