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IN-PART Global Challenges | Seeking research in water pollution

Seeking academic research and expertise to address water pollution and the treatment of wastewater (Closed: 14th June 2022)

Our latest Global Challenge campaign aims to drive innovation and collaboration to address global water pollution. We are inviting academic researchers and technology transfer offices to share with us non-confidential details of research and expertise that will enable the detection and treatment of emerging or legacy pollutants in waterways to ensure safer and cleaner water supplies. We are also looking to uncover technologies to improve wastewater management, as well as water purification methods, including for drinking water. 

Our team will proactively disseminate submissions from academia to R&D and external innovations teams with aligned priorities across our global industry network, with the aim of setting up introductions that lead to the commercialisation and deployment of new solutions. 

For this campaign, we are working with industry partners who are committed to solving the technical challenges of water pollution and wastewater treatment – Hach, Evoqua Water Technologies, Puraffinity and De Nora). 

These companies have shared their R&D priorities and academic partnering requirements through one-page interest documents (links below) and will be presenting them in more detail through a series of online ‘industry partnering opportunity’ webinars (register for these here).

Through this campaign we are aiming to mobilise the academia-industry ecosystem by providing a clear pathway for the commercialisation of research within the water pollution and treatment space, to help start meaningful conversations and partnerships that lead to the development of technologies and new products that address the technical challenges in addressing water pollution and treating wastewater.

How does the campaign work?

Submitting research or technologies to the campaign and having them disseminated to industry is free for all TTOs and academics and doesn’t require a subscription to IN-PART.

Our role in the academia-industry ecosystem is to simplify the initial connection between academia and industry. We start the conversations, leave the experts to explore and establish collaborations, and don’t take success feeds from successful partnerships. 

Submissions to the campaign will be disseminated to industry teams with aligned interests through the second quarter of 2022, and will feature in our post-campaign content and white paper profiling R&D trends in this space.

We launched this Global Challenges campaign on Tuesday 3rd May, and the deadline for submissions is Tuesday 14th June 2022.

 

What research should you submit?

We are looking for innovations and technologies that propose novel methods for the detection and removal of harmful pollutants from water sources, including freshwater, marine water, and groundwater. These could be to remove contaminants at source, or at the point of use. 

A full breakdown of the most pressing research topics we’ve identified to be of greatest importance can be found in the submission form. 

This campaign has been informed by leading companies and stakeholders who are working to address water pollution and wastewater treatment, including Hach, Evoqua Water Technologies, Puraffinity and De Nora. Their specific R&D and external innovation priorities for academic collaborations can be found through the following links:

 

How to submit your research, expertise or technologies:

1 – Review the R&D priorities and requirements of our industry campaign partners (De Nora, Evoqua Water Technologies, Hach and Puraffinity), and the topics of interest our team have identified, to identify relevant projects or technologies in your group, department or institute. 

 

2 – If you are an academic researcher, or you work in a technology transfer office that isn’t subscribed to IN-PART’s matchmaking platform, Connect: 

Outline non-confidential details of your project, research, or technology in the submission form below and submit it by email to submissions@in-part.co.uk (there will be no costs from IN-PART to engage with this campaign at any stage).

 

3 – If your technology transfer office is subscribed to IN-PART:

Submit new technologies and opportunities directly through your institute’s dashboard:

 

4- If your technology transfer office is subscribed to IN-PART and you have opportunities listed on the platform that fit the criteria of this campaign:

Contact your institute’s account manager at IN-PART to highlight these for inclusion in our industry dissemination programme, open research directory, white paper, and associated communications around the campaign.

Updates to existing technologies will also be distributed to companies with aligned interests.

Further details about the submission process can be found in the submission form.

 

Campaign partners

This campaign is being run with comms support from:

ASTP are Europe’s premier association of knowledge transfer professionals whose work aims to improve the quality of impact that public research has on the economy and society. Learn more.

PraxisAuril are a world-leading professional association for knowledge exchange practitioners, whose network includes 5000+ KE professionals. Learn more.

 

Why are we running this global challenge?

We ran a survey in 2021 asking our industry network what they and their companies thought are the biggest global challenges we face as a society.  Overwhelmingly, respondents stated that climate change and sustainability are the biggest challenges we need to address. Another survey in 2022 confirmed these were still big priorities. With this Global Challenges campaign, we hope to mobilise our community and create a clear pathway for research translation and commercialisation for technologies that can make an impact in these areas.

During this campaign, we are focussing on the challenges around developing novel water monitoring and wastewater treatment solutions.  Water is essential for life; it is fundamental to our industry, economy and environment. Water pollution that arises as a result of untreated wastewater from industrial processes can have devastating effects on wildlife and the environment.

 

What happens after you submit your project or research?

After you have submitted an opportunity, a member of our team will email you to confirm that it has been received. The opportunity will then be uploaded to our matchmaking platform, Connect. It will be fed into our matchmaking systems and proactively disseminated to R&D teams with aligned interests, including the companies listed above.

For R&D teams who want to learn more about your opportunity or to start a conversation with your team, we will then provide a direct introduction via email for you to open a dialogue and to share further details of your work or the project. 

This activity builds on the work we do through our matchmaking platforms to simplify the initial connection between teams in academia and industry, leveraging our networks and expertise to focus on addressing a crucial global challenge. We don’t take finders fees or success fees, and the conversations started through this campaign and our platforms are hosted exclusively between you and the other party.

 

Who should respond to the campaign?

We want to hear from any researchers who are working on technical solutions to address water pollution and wastewater treatment. We also want to hear from university technology transfer and research commercialisation professionals that can provide non-confidential details of their work or projects at their institute.

This is not limited to universities that have a subscription to IN-PART; we encourage everyone in academia who is working on water pollution and wastewater treatment projects to submit their work, with no need to set up a subscription.

 

For more information on our Global Challenges campaigns visit our FAQs page. 

If you have questions or want to know more about this campaign, please share your queries to submissions@in-part.co.uk and a member of our team will get back to you promptly.

 

Written by Frances Wilkinson. Edited by Anabel Bennett and Alex Stockham.

Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – IN-PART Publishing Ltd., 2021: ‘IN-PART Global Challenge: Seeking research and innovation in water pollution and the treatment of wastewater from academics & TTOs’

About IN-PART:

We believe brilliant connections can solve real-world problems. We match research pioneers from academia with decision-makers in industry sectors striving for a greater positive impact.

Our goal is to enable connections from around the world to match academic research with industry on a level playing field. Through our intelligent, matchmaking platform we showcase leading university innovations and connect academics with an international community of decision-makers in industry, creating meaningful dialogue and partnership.

 

Connect, a digital partnering platform for university-industry collaboration.

250+ universities and research institutes around the world currently showcase their research and innovation on IN-PART to find new collaboration partners in industry. R&D teams get free access to the platform (create an account here). There are no hidden costs and we don’t claim downstream success fees.

 

Discover, a bespoke scouting service for open innovation.

With the aim of solving a technical requirement or challenge, Discover enables R&D teams to identify new opportunities for commercialisation or to solicit proposals for new research from our extended academic network, which has confirmed touchpoints in 1,500+ universities and institutes worldwide.

Interested in speaking with our Discover team? Request a demo |  TTO or academic? Sign-up for weekly Discover emails.

 

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