Building Win-Win Utility-Startup Partnerships for Innovation Access in Asia
August 29, 2022 | 11 AM – 1230 PM (GMT +2)
World Water Week, Stockholm | Room 453
Onsite & Online Session
Where do startups get it right, and where do they go wrong?
How do utilities identify, design and fund early collaborations with startups?
What conditions enable these partnerships to eventually move from pilot to scale?
Learn from three entrepreneurs and their partners deploying innovative solutions with utilities across the Asia-Pacific
This session will cover three projects supported by the Water Technology Access Partnership (WTAP), a new pilot funding and innovation learning platform led by the World Bank and Imagine H2O Asia.
Each case study will explore a key theme that has enabled a win-win utility-startup partnership to launch and scale. Themes include:
Financing
Drinkwell’s Water ATMs and small-piped water networks
Building an innovative PPP-driven business model to share risk and create win-win economics between utility and startup
Solution Design
SmartTerra’s AI-powered analytics for non-revenue water loss reduction
Designing a modular solution that can be readily localized and integrated into existing workflows across different utilities and geographies
Local Support
AquAffirm’s real-time digital arsenic sensor and analytics platform
Empowering local partners to support product-market fit, community buy-in and technology validation for early-stage startups
Speakers
David Sarphie
AquAffirm
Gokul Krishna Govindu
SmartTerra
Hifza Rasheed
Pakistan Council of Research on Water Resources
Lucy Lytton
World Bank
Minhaj Chowdhury
Drinkwell
Nimesh Modak
Imagine H2O Asia
Soma Ghosh Moulik
World Bank
Shelley McMillan
World Bank
1. Introducing WTAP
(10min)
Overview of the Water Technology Access Partnership, a joint initiative between the World Bank and IH2O Asia
2. Partnerships Overview
(3x15min)
Three (3) lightning presentations of WTAP innovation case studies co-presented by both startup and end-user, with Q&A included
3. Discussion Roundtables
(18min)
Breakout discussions facilitated by case study presenters to explore lessons learned and pathways moving forward
4. Reporting Back
(12min)
Audience shares findings to be documented and disseminated as post-session summaries
