#Waterlink2021

“There has been a huge increase in the number of participants in trade missions”, said Bianca Nijhof of the Netherlands Water Partnership [NWP; the organization with which the Water Alliance collaborates extensively on an international level] regarding the impact of the pandemic on Dutch water technology companies. “More participants, and contact is established much more quickly and easily within those missions. This may be a continuing positive aspect in the future. In that sense, you could call the coronavirus crisis a blessing in disguise.” The attending entrepreneurs also presented many positive plans. Tim van Leeuwen, Head of Sales at Semiotic Labs, obviously had every reason to be happy. His company recently won the Water Alliance’s WIS Award with the SAM4 monitoring unit. He received the prize from Water Alliance director Hein Molenkamp during Water Link. After a great project in England, the company is already considering the USA for further expansion, he announced to the online audience. More about this company elsewhere in this issue.

Marissa de Boer of SusPhos (phosphate extraction from waste materials) also had a sunny outlook. Her company is based in the BioBizz Hub in Balk (affiliated with the Water Campus) and is undergoing rapid development. “The most important thing here is that, from the beginning, we have mirrored our ideas with our potential customers”, said De Boer, sharing one of the foundations of her success. “We have been sharing our progress straight out of the lab. This helps avoid surprises, and your customers join you on your journey at an early stage. We have now scaled up to a large demo site at Wetterskip Fryslân [the water board in the Friesland region] and will be working on building an entire plant next.”

After the plenary session, smaller online groups shared knowledge on topics such as water technology in a climate-adaptive city, internationalization and the opportunities for Dutch companies in Southern Europe, and on improving performance in factories through digitalization. For those who missed Water Link or want to revisit one of the sub-sessions, the entire event will soon be available for viewing at wateralliance.nl.

Editor’s note: around the time this edition went to press, Semiotic Labs changed its name to Samotics..