‘TOO MUCH RESEARCH MONEY IS BEING SPENT ON HYPES’

Leeuwarden hosted the European Water Technology Week (EWTW) in September. It is a multi-day conference at which the founders of WaterCampus Leeuwarden put their shoulders to the wheel together. Water institute Wetsus is a key pacemaker, and with director and scientist Cees Buisman on the list of speakers, it’s guaranteed to be interesting. His speech imparted a clear message: the national and international allocation of research funds is determined too much by hypes, with too little money going to research that addresses the biggest challenges humanity faces, such as water scarcity. He explained that more research money goes to Tesla than water technology, and one of the reasons, according to Buisman, is that water technology is not considered sexy enough. Water technology innovations generally take a long time to research, test, and accept. “On average, it takes 15 years for new water technology to be accepted”, Buisman explains.

This challenge is voiced frequently by the water technology sector.

Pioneering innovations are “disruptive” and are seen as a threat to existing systems. New forms of residential sanitation and new forms of energy, for example. On the Afsluitdijk, for example, REDstack has been working for years to generate energy from the differences between fresh and salt water. That innovation is now so mature that it could be sold worldwide, but the world still seems hesitant.

The conclusion was clear to everyone: new groundbreaking technologies take time but can eventually change the world—reason enough to fully embrace research into it.