Yet, entrepreneurs and innovators sometimes experience difficulties in putting their innovations on the market. What types of financing are available? Where are the market opportunities? What institutions and instrument can help bring your innovation to the next level?
The TKI Innovation brokers that work with Water Alliance and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) are available to help Dutch water companies answer any questions they may have about going to market in a free, tailored consultation. They can connect you to knowledge institutes and other SME’s. They know about financing opportunities and have a large network within the sector and with potential customers.
Being part of the TKI Water Technology of the Top Sector Water and Maritime (TSWM), several innovation brokers at Water Alliance and NWP are ready to help you find the right way through the Dutch knowledge and innovation landscape. The Innovation brokers primarily, but not exclusively, focus on companies working within the three topics mentioned below.
Companies that offer solutions for specific challenges within the agriculture, food and horticulture sector. These can be divided in challenges within the areas water quantity (such as efficiency and irrigation) and water quality (such as pesticides, nutrients and microbial pollutions, discharge) as well as winning back valuable resources and energy.
Companies active in the field of energy from flowing water (tidal energy, wave energy, hydropower), creating energy from temperature differences (OTEC) and energy from freshwater and salt water differences. These companies vary from technology developers to concept developers. It also includes companies active in providing circular products and services that create value from water related residues by recovering valuable resource from wastewater and water reuse.
Companies active in the field of clean and healthy water (water quality), but also companies that are able to detect and remove pathogens and drug residues from wastewater.
TKI Water technology aims at the creation of knowledge on new innovative water technologies. With the right consortium of partners consisting of technology suppliers, possible end-users, and knowledge institutes and a good commitment of these partners, substantial co-funding from the TKI-Watertechnology programme can be obtained, depending on the type of research (fundamental, industrial, or experimental). E.g. for so-called industrial research, the in-kind and cash contributions of the partners will be doubled (50/50). Applying is easy by using the project idea form on the TKI-Watertechnology website. The idea will be judged first by the TKI Program Office and (after adjustments) finally approved by the TKI board.
The innovations in TKI-projects differ from a new technology to treat slaughterhouse wastewater, through an innovative subirrigation for agriculture to the use of new detection methods for detection of Legionella in wastewater.
More information (in Dutch) can be found at: www.tkiwatertechnologie.nl or contact Arjan Braamskamp directly.