Monday, May 13th 2013
Registration Opens
5:30pm
BlueTech Forum Technology Exhibition & Showcase Opens
6:00pm
Welcome Reception
Begin the BlueTech Forum with our Welcome Reception, complete with networking opportunities and complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Assemble with fellow attendees from around the world to discuss business, develop new contacts, and reconnect with industry colleagues.
Tuesday, May 14th 2013
Networking Breakfast (Sponsor: Grundfos)
7:00am
An opportunity to connect with peers and industry experts before the conference begins.
Welcome Address – “Brave Blue World”
8:00am
Paul O’Callaghan, MSc, Founder and CEO, O2 Environmental Inc. and BlueTech Research, will kick off the forum with an orientation about the dynamics of the “Brave Blue World” of water and water technologies. He will provide highlights of new water technology market opportunities and emerging trends.
BLUETECH SHOWCASE – Innovative Water Technologies
The BlueTech Showcase features a premium short-list of innovative water technologies selected by the BlueTech Forum Advisory Board and O2 Environmental Technology Assessment Group (TAG). Positioned front and center, presenters use this platform to pitch their technology, value proposition, and go-to-market strategy to industry executives, early adopter utility managers, investors, and regulators.
Historically, through these showcases, presenting companies identified additional markets and customers, discovered licensing and partnering opportunities, and raised funds from venture capitalists attending the forum.
Each company in the BlueTech Showcase is eligible to win the Best Go-to-Market Strategy Award and the Disrupt-o-Meter Award. BlueTech Forum attendees vote for the award winners, and the results will be announced at the closing ceremony. In addition to being presented with the award, the two companies will receive a formal invitation to participate in the 2013 WEFTEC Innovation Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
BLUETECH SHOWCASE – The Food & Beverage
Food and beverage production demands a high volume of water, requiring between 10 to 50 m3 of water per ton of product produced. Such a large volume ranks this sector highest among industrial water users. Subsequently, the food and beverage sector presents a major market for water and wastewater treatment technology, set to reach $2.7 billion by 2020.
Food and beverage firms experience mounting pressure on existing water supplies, rising water abstraction costs, and increasing demand for food production facilities worldwide. This causes many companies to seek opportunities to dramatically improve efficiencies in water treatment, distribution, monitoring, and wastewater treatment infrastructure.
From these contributing factors arise major opportunities for innovative technologies to gain a foothold in the market for food and beverage productionModerator: Conor Dennehy, M.Sc., BlueTech Research
Companies: To be announced
BLUETECH SHOWCASE – Water and Oil & Gas
Moderator: Tyler Algeo, B.Sc., BlueTech Research
Companies: To be announced
30 Minute Networking Break
KEY OPPORTUNITIES AND EMERGING TRENDS – ROUNDTABLE PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this 50-minute session, delegates will have the opportunity to join designated tables for a brief presentation by a member of the O2 Environmental Technology Assessment Group (TAG) followed by a roundtable discussion on critical and controversial issues in the water technology market.
These TAG members are industry leaders with unrivalled water technology market intelligence who will share key and exclusive insights on technology and market areas while moderating the discussion.
Collectively, the O2 TAG provides strategic consultancy and technology due diligence for many of the world’s leading water technology firms, research institutes, and investors, including Fortune 500 companies.
All BlueTech Forum participants will have the opportunity to take part in the separate roundtable discussions. A BlueTech Research briefing memo on each technology and market area will be prepared and provided to all the roundtable attendees.
- Andreas Kolch, UV & Advanced Oxidation
- Topics: Ballast water treatment, emerging contaminants removal and UV LED’s
- Tim Evans, Biosolids & Nutrient Removal
- Topics: Nutrient Recovery, sludge pre-treatment
- Graeme Pearce, Membrane Filtration
- Topics: Ceramic membranes, UF pre-treatment, Asian membrane markets and membrane manufacturers
- Robert Gerard, Electro-Separation Technologies
- Topics: Innovative desalination and Osmotic Power, CapDI, e-separation market trends, Osmotic Power Reverse Electrodialysis (RED)
- John Veil, Produced Water
- Topics: Shale Gas
- William Bornark, Ion Exchange & Contaminant Removal
- Topics: Ion Exchange Market Trends, Selective Removal of Arsenic, Boron, Radium and Uranium
BLUETECH SHOWCASE – Smart Infrastructure (TBD)
Moderator: BlueTech Research
Companies: To be announced
PANEL: SOLUTIONS FOR FOOR & WATER NEXUS
Agriculture currently demands the highest percent of freshwater abstractions, leading to the need for proper water management. Urban and industrial water use pales by comparison. We rely on water to produce much of the food we eat, with 70% of freshwater abstractions allotted for food production.
In 2013, there is 10 times more land under irrigation than in 1945. Coupled with the use of artificial fertilizers, these factors enabled food production to match the demand associated with population growth; however, it leads to the increased use of freshwater in agriculture.
How are we going to address water management in agriculture? Can we address it? What opportunities will this create?
Companies in this panel will address the issues in the agriculture sector, while also presenting some of the solutions available. We will hear from companies with innovative technologies that use seawater greenhouses, halophyte production, smart irrigation, and membrane pervaporation technologies. We will see how leading greenhouse technology companies address water use, and how agricultural districts, like those in southern Spain, develop new desalination technologies.Moderator: TBD
Speakers:
- Dick Zwartveld, PRIVA
- Presentation: How a leading greenhouse company is working towards increasing water efficiency in food production
- Charlie Patton, Seawater Greenhouse
- Presentation: Use of thermal energy and seawater to grow crops in the desert
- Mark Tonkin, Dutyion (TBC)
- Presentation: Irrigating with salt water through pervaporation
Luncheon (Sponsor: Nijhuis Water Technology)
LUNCHEON KEYNOTE – To Be Announced
PANEL: STRATEGIC CORPORATE INVESTORS
Strategic investors have much to gain from funding early stage water companies
that have developed solutions to face specific challenges. Early funding of such companies is an attractive route towards developing future acquisition candidates that help shape the technology portfolios of strategic players in the water sector. For a start-up company, a partnership with a strategic investor can significantly improve the chances for success in a market as fragmented as the water sector. Not only does such a partnership deliver customer access, it can help keep the cost structure lean by providing internal resources and external networks.
Despite the above benefits, early-stage investments by strategic investors are also a balancing act, especially for start-ups. If a young company is seen to be too closely aligned with a strategic investor, this may limit its opportunities to work with other partners. Further tensions might be created from the cultural differences between a strategic investor and a young, dynamic innovator.
This panel will explore and contrast the strategy, approach, and success rate of leading strategic investors and private equity investors with a special focus on the unique challenges of investing in the water sector.Moderator: Reinhard Hübner, SKion GmbH
- Menno Holterman, Naesta
- Sandra Eager, BP Ventures
- Andreas von Richter, GE Capital
- Sarah Dubreil, Blue Orange (TBC)
PANEL: NEW ENTRANTS TO THE WATER GAME
Conduct a cursory evaluation of the market and you will find two important trends: an expanding number of new companies not previously in the water industry joining the party (e.g., electronics and control systems, biotechnology and advanced materials) and those already drinking from the well pushing to expand their water technology footprint.
What are the key drivers for this influx? How will this impact the market and affect competition dynamics? What kinds of strategies will be most successful?
Session panelists will explore the dynamics of the fragmented water sector, the “general store” – specialist dichotomy as it relates to water technologies, provide insights into why new entrants find the market irresistibly attractive, and explore the logic behind their thinking as it relates to corporate strategic fit and growth.
Moderator: Steve Kloos, True North Venture Partners
- Yannick Fovet, BASF
- Kaj Jansson, Outotec
FIRESIDE CHAT – Jos Paques interviewed by Paul O’Callaghan
This fireside chat style interview will be conducted by Paul O’Callaghan, CEO of O2 Environmental and Jos Paques, Founder of Paques BV.
30 Minute Networking Break
PANEL: INTRAPRENEURSHIP & IN-HOUSE INNOVATION
It is believed by some that venture backed water technology start-ups are the main vehicle for water technology innovation. These nimble companies sail close to the wind and are by definition entrepreneurial and adaptable.
Many large water tech companies have difficulty in garnering support for the type of risk taking needed to build groundbreaking products and in stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit needed to develop these technologies. Innovators in large water tech companies are often separated from market realities, and internal R&D projects have historically suffered from lack of a clear return on investment strategy.
However, times are changing. The water tech start-up is no longer essential for water innovation. Large water tech companies, corporations and water utilities are changing their approach to R&D, innovation and intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship refers to acting like an entrepreneur within a larger organization. New products and technologies are resulting from the process of applying hard-nosed business sense to internal projects, delivering the business case for technologies, and identifying internal champions to ensure development success.
This panel of innovators from leading international water technology firms and corporations will explore both the inherent advantages and disadvantages of working from within to create change and will present case studies of intrapreneurialism and in-house innovation.Moderator: Fei Chen, Innovation Platform Director, Grundfos
- Paul Bowen, Coca Cola
- Jonathan Clement, PWN Technologies
AFTERNOON KEYNOTE: To Be Announced
2013 BLUETECH RESEARCH AWARDS CEREMONY
Companies taking part in the BlueTech Showcase will receive nominations and votes from the BlueTech Forum Delegates for the BlueTech Research® ‘Disrupt-o-Meter Award’ and ‘Go-to-Market Strategy Award’.
The winners will receive a one-year subscription to the BlueTech Research Intelligence Service and will be included in the innovation Pavilion at WEFTEC.