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Moving New Technologies Into the World Marketplace

A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water research partnership was formed during the 2007 Clean Water Partnership Summit, held recently at National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) headquarters in Cincinnati. More than 200 global water quality specialists were present at the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between EPA and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's WaterCAMPWS (the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water With Systems) program. WaterCAMPWS is a research and education partnership of eight schools (i.e., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, and Yale University).The agreement involves NRMRL scientists in Cincinnati in the testing and scale-up of water purification technologies developed by WaterCAMPWS researchers from Urbana-Champaign.

Excerpts from "Public/Private Partnerships: Good for the Economy, Good for the Environment"

In the 1970s, studies showed the U.S. falling behind its international competitors in almost every high technology industry. Many predicted that our best days were behind us. A series of laws was passed allowing our federally funded laboratories and universities to work with the U.S. private sector to turn cutting-edge research into products benefiting the public. The result was the creation of new fields like biotechnology.
A great resource of the U.S. is our unparalleled system of federally funded laboratories and universities. The combination of scientific knowledge with unique laboratory facilities holds great promise for creating the industries of the future, as well as helping the world community address the serious environmental and health problems plaguing humanity. But this potential will only be realized if research is turned into results by the private sector entrepreneur. Luckily, we have a system where agencies such as EPA can partner with U.S. companies to turn our research concepts into products that can help meet serious environmental needs while creating good paying jobs in our region.
Let's look at one area: the need to protect drinking water. It is estimated that 20 percent of the world's population lacks access to safe, clean drinking water, and this problem could get much worse. Some studies show that by 2025, 2.8 billion people will live in areas with scarce water resources. This stark reality creates large markets for technologies meeting these challenges. The current drinking water market is $104 billion and growing. Technologies helping companies treat industrial wastewater are a $90 billion global market. So how do EPA/industry partnerships fit in? Let's look at two examples.

MAR Systems of Cleveland, Ohio, was interested in doing joint research with NRMRL to look at the problem of removing toxic contaminants, such as arsenic and mercury, from groundwater. This is a serious concern worldwide that also affects our own state. Under the Federal Technology Transfer Act, agencies such as EPA can partner with companies to move our research forward, while allowing the partner company to develop practical products that benefit the public. A great side benefit is having the best and brightest in the public and private sectors collaborating on finding solutions to serious problems.

The result? Working together, we found an exciting new technology using a recycled catalyst that removes mercury and arsenic, is low cost, and meets the new drinking water standards going into effect in the U.S. The technology was patented, MAR Systems went to an Ohio-based venture fund to secure funding, and it's now off and running!

Working with our neighbors at the University of Cincinnati, our scientists found an equally exciting technology for treating municipal and industrial water through a gravity-fed system removing a wide variety of contaminants. The technology is simple and effective and holds great promise in the global marketplace. We are now looking for company partners for commercial development.

Such arrangements draw upon the best of our public and private sectors. We can only succeed by working together.

Representatives from ten countries and more than two dozen U.S. universities, plus industry and investment firms, technology entrepreneurs, and government agencies, attended the partnership summit. Speakers focused on the emergence of clean water technologies and their worldwide importance, especially for countries with chronic water shortages. NRMRL researchers highlighted two significant EPA technologies at the meeting: a gravity-fed reactor that biologically treats drinking water as well as wastewater, and a technology to reduce arsenic and mercury in drinking water. Both were developed through EPA collaborative programs.

The meeting focused on market needs and promising technologies in four areas:

Sustainability—green tools and technologies, such as cleaner industrial processes, to minimize human impacts on the environment
Drinking water and wastewater—state-of-the-science analyses, instrumentation, monitoring, and assessment tools to ensure safe drinking water; methods for applying wastewater treatment and hazardous waste remediation to meet industry and community needs
Homeland security—prevention and mitigation of terrorist attacks on drinking water systems through rapid identification, containment, decontamination, and disposal
Ecosystems—green technologies for pollution management and prevention, risk assessment, and evaluation of ecosystem health.

Summit Results

Of the 114 attendees representing industry, more than 74 percent identified a potential partnership with EPA. A total of eight pending deals in the areas of drinking water and wastewater, sustainability, and ecosystem technology were identified. More than 90 percent of the industry representatives expressed an interest in attending other events focusing on partnerships with EPA.

In an initial invitation to the summit meeting, NRMRL Director Sally Gutierrez noted EPA's "unparalleled system of federally funded laboratories," and called for cooperation with global water specialists to create the industries of the future. Excerpts from her remarks about "Public/Private Partnerships: Good for the Economy, Good for the Environment" appear in the sidebar to the right.

For more information: Patricia Schultz, NRMRL Office of Public Affairs, (513) 569-7966

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Winter 2007
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