Connecting Water Tech Talent

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Connecting Water Tech Talent

Program 'Pipeline' has the goal of identifying companies working to solve some of the world's biggest challenges with water from wastewater treatment to flood control.

14231280_328344344180002_1072812508432788201_o.pngBut beyond figuring out where the startups are, the new program aims to help entrepreneurs find customers for the problem-solving technologies and products they're developing and make money.

Organizers behind Pipeline announced the program's launch at a news conference in Over-the-Rhine Monday.

Pipeline is fielding candidates for eight to 10 spots for its first class of entrepreneurs to receive technical support, access to potential customers, regulatory training and startup guidance.

The program will run for 15 weeks between February and May 2017. Interested companies can apply online to Pipeline through Nov. 11.

Startups selected for the program will not have to relocate to Cincinnati, but will have to spend at least one week a month in the region. Two startups in Pipeline, selected in a peer review process, will receive a $25,000 investment at the end of the 15-week program.

The program's creation is tied to the March announcement of Cincinnati being named as one of 16 regions partnering with global startup supporter and investor Village Capital. Washington, D.C.-based Village Capital is working with communities often passed over for investment capital to train and fund startup companies in agriculture, education, energy, financial inclusion, health and water.

So what's behind the D.C. group's interest in Cincinnati? It comes down to people and expertise, said Rahul Bawa, chairman of Pipeline and also the Hamilton Mill, a Hamilton-based business incubator focused on clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

Bawa said Greater Cincinnati has a long history of innovation around water technology, having one of the country's first municipally owned water systems and federally funded water projects. Cincinnati is home to the 22-acre Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center, the federal agency's second largest laboratory; the staff at the Corryville center does research on water, bioremediation and pollution prevention.

"Southwest Ohio has some of the best water resources and municipal water in the nation," Bawa said. "This is an excellent opportunity for the region to identify and help commercialize the leading water-based technologies in the world."

The process of working with Village Capital has been more than two years in the making and it has taken the collaboration of a wide range of organizations and leaders, said Eric Weissman, director of marketing for Cintrifuse. Weissman said Cincinnati City Solicitor Paula Boggs Muething and former Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls have had large roles in making connections and building the coalition of partners.

"Water can and should continue to put Cincinnati on the map," said Sittenfeld, who was college roommates with Village Capital CEO Ross Baird when they studied at the University of Oxford in England. "The assets we have would be the envy of cities around the nation."

Weissman said Village Capital's interest also shows that Cincinnati's startup ecosystem has matured to the point where geographic boundaries are blurred and groups with a national and international can engage investor organizations with an international profile.

"We've grown and matured to a point where the boundaries are blurred and we are all going in the same direction," Weissman said.

Village Capital, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati Water Works, University of Cincinnati's water center, Xavier University's Center for Innovation, the cities of Cincinnati and Hamilton, Cintrifuse and Hamilton Mill are partners in the new program.

"This is a prime example of the city of Cincinnati leveraging its resources for the betterment of the region," said Mayor John Cranley in a statement. "Given the strength of all the organizations involved, we expect to see great things from the Pipeline program."

The Hamilton Mill will manage Pipeline's day-to-day operations. Antony Seppi is serving as Pipeline's "director of flow," or program manager. Bawa said he wants to get a few hundred applicants to the program and eventually build an actual pipeline of future participants.

Source: Cincinnati

View Pipeline website here

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