Austria teams up to solve water crisis

Local partnerships to find solutions

THE Austrian Trade Commission (ATC), in an effort to address the water crisis in the Western Cape, has teamed up with local partners to launch an open challenge looking for Agri-Water technology innovations from South Africa and Austria in the agriculture and water technology space.

After receiving just under 70 high- quality submissions from all over the world, the ATC selected 17 finalists to pitch at the challenge held at the V&A Waterfront’s Workshop 17 yesterday.

Austrian trade commissioner Johannes Brunner said the news about Cape Town being the first major city in the world set to run out of water was a major wake-up call and had made them think about what Austria could do to contribute to the solution.

Brunner said the answer from the Austrian Trade Commission in South Africa was obvious – to do what they do best – bringing South African and Austrian businesses to work together more closely.

“We were not simply looking for any solution to the water crisis. We put a particular focus on the agriculture sector, which is of crucial importance for food security, employment and the overall economy in South Africa,” he said.

Brunner said Austria, with its extremely high innovative potential, was one of the leading countries in environmental technology and thanks to very successful green technology, Austrian companies enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide.

“Together with our partner organisations, Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), Silicon Cape and RIIS, we have run an open innovation challenge to address the issue of efficient water use in agriculture, bringing together the smartest ideas from Austria as well as South Africa, and finding solutions that help to reduce the amount of water currently used in agriculture.

“We are proud to present today the 17 finalists who have been chosen by an expert jury among 70 high- quality submissions. “They represent top innovations from South Africa and Austria, and today’s event will not only reward the most outstanding ideas with a prize. Today we shall bring the finalists together with potential partners who can play a significant role in the implementation of those ideas and make a meaningful contribution to creating a highly competitive and water-smart agricultural sector in South Africa,” said Brunner.

Clen Cook, an executive at RIIS, said the open challenge was likely to be run again.

“There is absolutely no reason why it can’t be… From a challenge point of view, what we find over the years is we’ve helped large amounts of multinationals solve internal problems, solve operational mechanisms better, we’ve also worked in innovation and housing, there is social innovation around housing and health.

“One of the challenges last year in Khayelitsha was to try and find better ways for people to have better housing, safer housing and a high quality of life. So you’ve got the social side of things as well as the corporate operational aspects,” said Cook.