Water Technology Company of the Year
H2O Innovation
What is it?
A Quebec-based membrane systems, chemicals, and equipment supplier traded on the TSX Venture Exchange.
What has it done?
In 2015, H2O Innovation saw a 40% increase in revenues, driven by rapid growth across its technology portfolio. It commissioned the Clifton UF water treatment plant in Colorado – the first commercial installation using the company’s FiberFlex modules, and subsequently received 15 new orders for the system. Besides the advances in its core membrane business, the company has made significant steps forward in developing smart solutions for plant operations. It acquired Clearlogx, a chemical performance system for UF membranes, launched ProDose XPRT, which helps users predict scaling, and rolled out its SPMC remote monitoring solution for plant operations. Even the Piedmont couplings division has seen innovation, adding several new low-pressure membrane products to its offering.
What makes it special?
Larger companies have tried and failed to bring together the roles of systems integrator and chemical supplier. H2O Innovation has used smart technologies to bridge the two disciplines, creating a virtuous circle based on a greater understanding of the customer experience. This has led to better product innovation, increased market share, and greater opportunities to learn from customers.
The FiberFlex membrane module system changes the economics of membrane systems by freeing the customer from the need to buy replacement membranes from the same supplier. The fact that the system has taken off so rapidly is a sign of how much customers value this freedom.
H2O Innovation has demonstrated in 2015 that a small company with the right combination of creativity, entrepreneurialism, and dedication can shake up the established ways of the global water industry – and thrive. The rest of the world should take notice.
Distinction
GE Water & Process Technologies
What is it?
The water and fluid processing technology arm of General Electric.
What has it done?
The industrial giant has seen a spurt of innovation which resulted in the launch of a flurry of new technologies during 2015, including an energy-neutral wastewater treatment system based on its newly acquired Monsal technology, a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (ZeeLung) that is four times more energy-efficient than existing aeration systems, a nanofiltration-based sulphate removal membrane for the offshore oil and gas industry, a new range of water treatment chemicals to address wax blockages and corrosion issues in oil and gas facilities, a new enhanced version of its InSight industrial internet solution to improve water system performance, and a new brine concentration system to handle flue gas desulphurisation waste, as well as a range of new membrane products.
What makes it special?
GE Water’s unique portfolio of technologies and water treatment chemicals gives the company exceptional insight into its customers’ problems, and it has used this insight to drive innovation across the company in a way which threatens to leave its competitors in the dust. No other water company has been as active in launching new products in 2015 than GE.
GE is the dominant player in the energy sector, serving both upstream and downstream markets in power generation. The desire to drive down energy costs for water users whilst minimising water costs for energy producers has become a key theme for innovation, ensuring that its propositions are equally compelling at $30/bbl oil as they were at $130/bbl oil.
With its “Unimpossible Missions” campaign, GE boasts how every day it pushes the boundaries of what is possible. In 2015, GE Water lived up to the claim, showing that even an industrial giant can be as creative as a Silicon Valley start-up. Such is the strength of the culture of innovation at GE.
The Global Water Awards 2018 is proudly sponsored by:
