Vantaa Business Incubator made Shower Water Drinkable

Showerloop is aiming high with its water recycling invention

The Turbiini business hub in Vantaa has gathered seven teams under its wing in just one month. One of them, Showerloop, is aiming high with its water recycling invention. People living outside of Vantaa are also welcome at Turbiini, as long as they are prepared to found a company in the city.

Vantaa is the latest large capital region city in Finland to found a business incubator, intended to help new businesses get off the ground.

The Turbiini incubator in the Technopolis centre offers rooms, advice and networking tips for starting companies. Seven up and coming businesses are currently under Turbiini's wing just one month after it was founded.

"We've made great headway and there's been a lot of interest," says the city's director of economic development Jose Valanta.

He says that currently Turbiini companies are developing computer software, games, miniature helicopter technology and water purification.

Shower, then drink

One of the strongest contenders for an international success story is Showerloop, a business team that has developed a way to recycle used showering water.

"In this system that we're developing we can recycle more than 90 percent of the water and it becomes drinkable using the purification process," says inventor and team lead Jason Selvarajan. "It's intended to be a household item that saves water."

The invention fits into an 80 by 30 centimetre box that can be installed in any bathroom.

"We aim to get the Showerloop into production early next year. The pricetag will be about 1,500 euros and it has the same lifespan as a shower does, especially if the filters are changed every year or two," Selvarajan explains.

The Showerloop has been on display in Paris, Frankfurt, Budapest and Barcelona. Next week it's time for Las Vegas, Nevada.

Teams welcome

"It was a stroke of luck that we got into Turbiini," Selvarajan says. "I had just been kicked out of the garage where I was developing the product and we almost had to pull the plug."

Selvarajan says the team has received a great deal of marketing help for their invention from Turbiini.

"It's great to be able to focus on developing a great product rather than spend a lot of energy on other concerns," Selvarajan says.

Turbiini is open to people outside of Vantaa, too, as long as they are willing to register a company in Vantaa itself. There is room for twenty hopefuls.

"Everyone is welcome, although we only take companies that are just starting up," says Turbiini project manager Tiina Vuorio. "We help with funding, marketing and anything else a company might need."

The capital region has four business incubators: Turbiini in Vantaa, Spinno in Espoo and NewCo and the Aalto Start-Up Centre in Helsinki.

Source: YLE

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