The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) announced in late March a new partnership with Isle Utilities and ThinkPlace – a partnership which will deliver an industry-leading Innovative Technologies Program for WSAA and its members.
Since its creation in March, the program has adopted a new name, W-Lab. To-date 23 WSAA members have signed on to the W-Lab program.
Adam Lovell, Executive Director of WSAA said “W-Lab has the potential to launch WSAA and our members into a global network which will drive innovative, technological solutions to overcome future industry challenges.
‘W-Lab will offer even more opportunities for utilities to collaborate through access to Isle’s global database of technologies from industry sectors all over the world and I would encourage all of our WSAA members to participate in our W-Lab Program”, said Mr Lovell.
Dr Alex Cech, Chief Technology Officer at Isle Utilities (Asia-Pacific) said “our unique global partnership experts work with 350 water businesses and more than 6,500 technology providers worldwide.
“Our local team will work closely and collaboratively with water utilities of all shapes, sizes and localities across Australia and New Zealand.
“We use well-founded, design-thinking tools, to understand current and upcoming challenges as well as to visualise what an ideal future state could look like. We then identify, evaluate and present innovative, technological solutions to overcome these challenges. This process empowers our network to make confident decisions for their collective future,”, said Dr Cech
Dr Nicola Nelson, Manager, Science, Research and Innovation at Sydney Water said “we’re really excited about the new W-Lab Program.
“W-Lab will raise the awareness of technology options for the Australian and New Zealand water industry and facilitate technology adoption, with the overarching aim of improving customer experience and value.
“By leveraging this technology innovation across different sectors, we can find new ways to optimise our own operations, which will enable Sydney Water and other utilities to deliver world class water solutions to our customers,” said Dr Nelson.
Preparation is underway for a Digital Ideation Summit to be hosted entirely online from 11-15 of June. The purpose of the Summit is to engage all members across the Australian and New Zealand water industry to build a Technology Roadmap. This blueprint will guide the industry in the identification and evaluation of innovative technologies which will enable the industry to embrace change and foster resilience both now and into the future.
Dr Nina Terry, Founder and Global Partner at ThinkPlace added “Isle and ThinkPlace have a specialised team of 100 across Australia and New Zealand and a global team of 200, spanning six continents and 13 countries. The team’s breadth of experience means we are big enough to give water utilities access to global innovation experience and capabilities, and small enough to provide local context.”
For more information please contact Victoria Allen on victoria.allen@wsaa.asn.au.
21 May 2020
