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RTDC Announces Smart-Water Innovation Center on Cape Cod
—Planning under way for unique center to catalyze a new wave of technology solutions, education,
and policy for advanced management of potable water, wastewater, and coastal water zones—
—MBL supports effort by proposing a 72-acre "Living Laboratory" site
for smart-water technology testing & demonstration—
—Cape Cod Commission supports effort as part of Smart Cape Cod initiative—
WOODS HOLE, Mass., May 10, 2011— The RTDC (Regional Technology Development Corp. of Cape Cod), with support from the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory), announced today the establishment of a Center for Innovative Water Technologies (CIWT), to be located on Cape Cod. The new center will focus on delivering solutions to pressing local and global water resource and wastewater management problems and will be developed to work synergistically with the Cape's proposed smart-water management grid.
The announcement was made by RTDC CEO Robert A. Curtis, PharmD at the conclusion of the SmarterCape Summit today in Chatham, Massachusetts.
Specific components of the center are expected to include:
- A Water Technology Innovation Accelerator that will serve as a technology development center and launchpad for smart water-focused startup companies
- A "Living Laboratory," a 72-acre demonstration site at the MBL that would provide smart-water innovators a critical "real world" testbed for evaluating technologies prior to their deployment
- A Center for Water Sciences Education and Policy that would serve as a hub for water-related information exchange, with a focus on educating the public about smart-water issues as well as advancing policies that reduce obstacles and improve market conditions for the U.S. smart-water technologies industry
"Addressing the exploding demand for and deteriorating quality of water worldwide requires a sea change in how humankind uses and manages this most basic and essential resource," said Dr. Curtis. "This new center is intended to help us get there—by driving research and development, facilitating focused public-private sector collaborations, providing smart-water innovators and problem-solvers the resources they need to test and deploy their critical new technologies, and cultivating a public that is well-educated about the efficient use and management of water. With governments and industry around the globe increasingly calling for new ideas to improve the use, distribution, and management of water resources, we expect that some of the solutions developed at the CIWT to address local water challenges will ultimately find broader commercial application in the $700 billion global water market."
"The MBL fully supports the RTDC's founding of the Center for Water Technologies, and we are pleased to offer the center a Living Laboratory as a pivotal tool for smart-water innovators," said MBL President and Director Gary Borisy, PhD. "The 72-acre site, located a mile and a half from the main MBL campus, includes residential cottages that can be used to simulate a neighborhood that has been wired with sophisticated smart-water network technologies, such as meters and sensors for monitoring, measuring, and analyzing the distribution and use of drinking water, water loss, and septic system discharge. The ability to simulate and model a smart-water grid will provide a critical and relatively low-cost way to explore, test, refine, and validate the potential of technologies under real-world conditions. This collaboration represents an excellent model for using scientific research to help solve a pressing local and global issue."
The decision to pursue the establishment of the Center for Innovative Water Technologies on Cape Cod follows the strong endorsement of a consortium of regional stakeholders and national experts that convened recently in Woods Hole to discuss the concept against a backdrop of growing concern about global water issues, including the Cape's formidable water resource and wastewater management problems. Enormous population growth on the Cape over the past 40 years has increasingly strained wastewater infrastructure, with detrimental effects that include:
- substantial nitrogen buildup from septic systems, stormwater runoff, and wastewater facilities fueling explosive algae growth, which in turn is threatening the viability of the coastal ecosystem;
- phosphorus buildup in freshwater ponds; and
- growing concern about the long-term impact of pollution on the sole aquifer that supplies the Cape's drinking water.
"A focus on innovating while solving local water problems can have important global implications," said Paul Niedzwiecki, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Commission. "The Cape is ideally positioned for this unique new center for smart-water innovation, given its urgent need for solutions to freshwater, coastal zone, and wastewater management problems; the exceptional water science and engineering talent available in our region; and the ready testing and demonstration site offered by the MBL. We look forward to working closely with the CIWT and to the innovative approaches and solutions developed there as we advance our Smart Cape Cod initiative to more efficiently monitor and manage the Cape's natural resources and infrastructure."
The RTDC is now finalizing a strategic plan for the CIWT's technology accelerator and Living Laboratory components, identifying funding for the center's establishment, and assembling a CIWT advisory board of experts representing academia, industry, venture capital, and government. For more information, please visit www.ciwt.org.
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