From 4 to 8 October, Clean was at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Glasgow with six Danish water companies, three sessions on the Speakers Corner stage and partners from across the International Cleantech Network.
The IWA World Water Congress brings together utilities, technology providers, researchers and policymakers from across the global water sector. This year, Clean was part of the Pavilion of Denmark, run by Danish Export – Water Tech, where it hosted an Innovation Corner for its member companies.
Six companies at the Innovation Corner
Over the week, six companies met utilities, partners and potential customers at the Innovation Corner:
- Aguardio makes water pipes in buildings visible with pipe sensors.
- BIOSTATIQ provides non-chemical water treatment for critical systems.
- Aqua Alarm combines continuous water-quality sensing, automated sampling and AI-powered insights to help utilities detect risks earlier and keep drinking water safe.
- InfoTiles Digital Water uses AI-powered data analytics to help water and wastewater utilities reduce water loss, prevent overflows and run their infrastructure more efficiently.
- Vāsuqi develops visible-light water treatment that breaks down hard-to-remove pollutants such as pharmaceutical residues, dyes and other persistent organics, without added chemicals or sludge.
- Smart Eco Engineering develops sustainable water and wastewater treatment solutions that help industries improve efficiency and manage water resources more effectively.
Turning urban runoff into opportunity
On Wednesday morning, Clean and Sweden Water Research hosted a session on how stormwater and urban runoff can become a driver for innovation and collaboration. The session drew on experience from ReCircWater, a project funded by the Interreg South Baltic Programme, including pilots with the Danish utility Novafos and similar work in Sweden.
Two points stood out. First, Denmark and Sweden work under the same EU frameworks but regulate stormwater differently, which shapes what new solutions can be developed and put into use. Second, a design sprint process brought stakeholders together to develop a treatment pilot for stormwater overflows, turning challenges and ideas into a working solution.
The Water4All Partnership also presented its work at the session, showing how European collaboration can speed up the shift to more sustainable water management. It highlighted its open Joint Transnational Call on Sustainable Water Management, which offers researchers, companies and other stakeholders the chance to work across borders on shared water challenges.
Clusters working across borders
On Wednesday afternoon, three International Cleantech Network (ICN) member clusters shared the stage: Clean from Denmark, Water Alliance from the Netherlands and Greentech South from the UK. The discussion focused on what clusters can achieve together that would be hard to achieve alone, from joint innovation projects in areas such as stormwater management to helping SMEs build international partnerships and enter new markets. Water is one of ICN’s thematic focus areas.
A Danish Splash on the Clyde
The final day opened with “A Danish Splash on the Clyde”, an informal walk, talk and water quiz hosted by Clean together with the Danish Technological Institute, Danish Water Forum and Novafos. Visitors met Danish companies and knowledge partners, tested their water knowledge and competed for prizes from Denmark.
“Bringing Danish water innovators to Glasgow”
For Scott Grønnegaard Allison, Head of Water and Chief Project Manager at Clean, the congress had a personal side.
“Glasgow is my mother’s home city, so it meant a lot to be here with some of Denmark’s most exciting water innovators. Our companies had strong conversations with utilities and partners from across the world all week. What we saw in Glasgow is that good water solutions need more than good technology. They need the right partners, an understanding of regulation and people who connect across borders. That is what Clean is here to do.”
These activities are co-funded by the European Union and Virksomhedsudvikling Danmark.
