Chiara Neto, Martijn de Sterke, award winner, Bridge Hub 2020 water challenge, Nano Science Building

Winners of the Bridge Hub 2020 Water Challenge have been announced. The challenge aims to solve water problems in the agri supply chain and the winners’ solutions will be commercialised for Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers looked to create water out of thin air this year with the future of agrifood innovation looking bright.

Bridge Hub co-chief executive Craig Shapiro says it’s not about collaborating and investing to get these ideas off the page and into the market.

Launched in February, the Bridge Hub 2020 Water Challenge aims to uncover the best and brightest research, the most innovative ideas, and the best startups that positively impact water sustainability across our agrisystem. The global Challenge attracted over 150 researchers and entrepreneurs from Australia, New Zealand and Israel.

Winning solutions as diverse as creating water from air, measuring water with acoustics and sludge-free waste recycling for remote communities highlight that the Water Challenge has been successful in its aim of uncovering some of the leading cutting edge solutions currently being developed.

“The quality of not only the winning solutions but of all the applicants highlights that we have the capacity to achieve anything if we turn our minds to the task at hand. Our ability to solve problems across the entire agrifood supply chain is only limited by our imagination, as long as we have the right frameworks in place,” Craig says.

Winning teams were awarded recognition and prize money .

“While today marks the end of the Water Challenge, it is just the beginning of a bigger journey of working with a global community of like-minded organisations and individuals to transform many of the big ideas and solutions submitted to the Water Challenge into impactful and successful outcomes,” Craig adds.

The winners are:

• Australian Research Stream – sponsored by CSIRO
  Advanced Capture of Water from the Atmosphere (ACWA)
  Prof Chiara Neto, The University of Sydney
  Groundbreaking research that is working on a new water solution that aims to capture water from the air.
• New Zealand Research Stream – sponsored by Zespri
  Real-time control of irrigation through acoustic sensing to prevent runoff and pollution. (Acoustic sensing for Irrigation)
  Dr Chandra Ghimire, AgResearch Ltd. Lincoln New Zealand
  Research that is using acoustic technology to help irrigators to be smarter with their water efficiency.
• Australian Startup Stream – sponsored by Commonwealth Bank
  Streamwise DI
  Paul Hatten, Clayton VIC
  Wastewater solution that improves environmental outcomes and operating efficiencies of food manufacturers through the use of Artificial Intelligence.
  waterwerx.com.au
• New Zealand Startup Stream – Sponsored by Wharf42
  RiverWatch
  James Muir, Matarangi
  A water quality solution that provides real time monitoring and decision making for our rivers and waterways.
  http://www.riverwatch.nz
• Israel Startup Stream
  LagunaTech
  Clive Lipchin, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ktura
  Decentralised wastewater treatment solution that assists remote and off grid communities to create new water sources.
  http://lagunatechnologies.org