The Ontario Water Consortium (OWC), in strategic alliance with Foresight Canada and AquaAction, is delighted to announce the submission of a Statement of Interest (SOI) to a prestigious National Innovation Ecosystems Fund. The SOI outlines our ambitious proposal for the establishment of a groundbreaking Water Innovation Network, aimed at transforming the water technology sector in Canada and driving sustainable economic growth.
The proposed network aims to address the mounting global demand for innovative water solutions while simultaneously advancing Canada’s climate objectives. By catalyzing collaboration and innovation across the nation, the network is set to play a crucial role in developing, commercializing, adopting, and exporting pioneering water technologies. The network seeks to bridge existing gaps in ecosystem coordination, technology progression, and adoption.
The proposed network’s activities are structured around three pivotal streams:
- Technology Development and Advancement: This stream will support researchers, startups, SMEs, and industries in advancing water technologies, ranging from talent development to pilot implementation. Through national calls for water tech development, the network aims to mobilize intellectual property, stimulate investment, create job opportunities, and engage key players in the water tech sector.
- Commercialization and Business Growth: This stream will foster competitive technologies via business training, mentorship, and matchmaking. It will support startups and SMEs in enhancing their commercial readiness, scaling their ventures, and improving their offerings. The network will facilitate these ventures’ sustainable growth by providing mentorship and assistance in assessing environmental impact.
- Technology Adoption: This stream will work closely with problem holders and industry associations to identify water-related challenges and encourage the adoption of innovative solutions across a wide range of sectors. The network will bolster technology demonstration and adoption through various Innovation Challenge calls.
The network proposal has attracted significant interest from various partners, including SMEs, corporations, academic institutions, enablers, and international clusters. With numerous letters of support already obtained from these organizations and networks, the network has established a robust foundation for its ecosystem-building activities.
If approved, the network will establish an expert advisory board to supervise fund allocation, monitor network impact, and optimize return on investment. The network’s success will be evaluated on factors such as stakeholder engagement, partnerships, climate and water performance, and economic indicators. In addition, the network will offer training, research facilitation, technology validation, and entrepreneurial support, creating educational and placement opportunities for students in water tech organizations.
OWC is excited about the network’s potential to revolutionize the water technology sector in Canada and position our nation as a global leader in water innovation. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with various stakeholders to stimulate sustainable economic growth, tackle water challenges, and advance Canada’s climate goals.
About the Ontario Water Consortium (OWC)
OWC’s mission is to enable water solutions that address the economic, environmental, and social challenges of today. As the platform for industry, academia, government, and end-users, OWC connects leaders at the forefront of water innovation.
From 2016–2018, OWC developed and implemented the Advancing Water Technologies (AWT) Program, enabling valuable collaborations between industry and academic researchers. This business-driven program provided more than $10 million to fund 60+ projects, supporting the scale-up and growth of Ontario’s water technology sector by accelerating commercialization of globally competitive technologies.
In 2023, OWC launched the Water Industry Growth (WIG) Program, with the objective of supporting technology development and adoption within the sector, leading to accelerated growth, further investment by companies, more job creation, greater market competitiveness and long-term resilience of Southern Ontario companies addressing water challenges at the intersection of climate change, sustainability, and society.
About Foresight Canada
Foresight is Canada’s cleantech accelerator. Our mission is to accelerate the growth and impact of cleantech ecosystems across Canada to achieve deep decarbonization targets and reduce fresh water usage with industry and government end users. We segment our support by sector to help align ecosystems, set priorities, and build communities of technology providers, industry adopters, and engaged funders.
Foresight leads several high-impact sectoral initiatives, including waterNEXT, Canada’s water technology network. WaterNEXT’s ecosystem extends across many of the country’s largest sectors from – resources to utilities — to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of innovative technologies for the world’s most pressing water challenges.
About Aqua Action
AquaAction is a registered Canadian and American charity established in 2015 by the Fondation de Gaspé Beaubien. It was created to disrupt the status quo with innovative ideas and to engage next generation talent in the fight against the water-related climate crisis.
AquaAction has developed three programs focused on water innovation and technology: the AquaHacking Challenge, AquaEntrepreneur, and the AquaAction Alumni Community. Since its inception, over 55 innovative start-up companies have been created across Canada. AquaAction is proud to count the RBC Foundation, Ovivo, IBM Canada, Lavery, and Mitacs among its partners.