Sustainable water solutions awarded in Water Challenge!

Sustainable water solutions from Helios Innovations, Nära & Naturlig, and DiaPure awarded in Innovation Challenge.

70% of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture, often with high losses and low efficiency. In order to promote smart water solutions for a more sustainable food production, an Innovation Challenge was designed through a collaboration between Microsoft’s Datacenter Community Development Team, WIN Water, Venture Cup, and Innovation Skåne. Today, the winners were announced, and each company was awarded 10,000 euros.

- “The winning startups all presented scalable business cases with a high degree of innovation and a great potential to impact water usage in future food production. We’re excited to follow them on their onward journey,” says Marie Greco, regional manager at Venture Cup.

The jury was looking for companies with scalable and innovative solutions to address water usage efficiency in food production directly or indirectly.

Jonatan Persson is CEO and founder of Helios Innovations, one of the winning companies.

- “We aim to become the next large Swedish manufacturing company in the field of desalination. Scaling up production is costly, and so all prize money will be used for this. We also hope that this award will lead to new relationships with potential customers or partners,” says Jonatan Persson.

A total of 10,000 euros each was awarded to the winners, along with valuable networking and business coaching opportunities. The jury was represented by Aqua Robur, Microsoft, IKEA, LTH, Region Skåne, Krinova, and Innovation Skåne.

The winners are:

Nära & Naturlig
Nära & Naturlig offers an alternative to wild-caught fish by growing Tilapia in ecosystems with microorganisms. The solution enables locally and ecologically produced fish with 100% water reusability. www.naraochnaturlig.se

Helios Innovations
Helios contributes to desalination of water by using energy that otherwise would go to waste by creating a circular model which has potential to make industries water self-sufficient.
www.heliosinnovations.se

DiaPure
Diapure’s filter not only purifies water but also recycles phosphorus, which is a non-renewable resource and is essential in agriculture and mining.
www.diapure.eu