Wetsus news December 2011

At the end of the year, we wish you joy and happiness in the holiday season and throughout the year to come. Let’s make 2012 a healthy, cooperative and innovative year!

The Wetsus-network of participants continues to expand. We are happy to introduce the new participants that have signed agreements with us this month:
Anglian Water ( www.anglianwater.co.uk) is a privatised water company from the East of England which provides water and environmental services to customers worldwide. Anglian water has entered the ‘Priority Compounds’ research theme as participant company
Vereniging van Participanten Waterketen Noord-Nederland: This is a newly formed association in which three water boards (Waterschap Noorderzijlvest, Waterschap Hunze en Aa’s and Wetterskip Fryslan, and two watercompanies (Waterbedrijf Groningen en Waterleidingmaatschappij Drenthe) from the Northern Netherlands have joined forces in the field of innovation. The association is connected to three Wetsus research themes.

On December 8th, 2011, Jan Post was awarded the Wadden Academy Prize 2011, for his thesis called ‘Electricity production from salinity gradients by reverse electrodialysis’ (Blue Energy). Jan Post, a former PhD researcher at Wetsus/Wageningen UR, and currently employed by KWR and Wageningen UR, defended his thesis cum laude in 2009. The Wadden Academy Prize 2011 (5,000 Euro) is intended for students who have completed the best Wadden-related paper in the 2009-2010 or 2010-2011 academic year.

Jan Post was chosen by the selection board unanimously, for the scientific and societal relevance of his thesis. Post already received the Wetsus Marcel Mulder Award and the SENSE PhD Award for his thesis, as well as the Best Technical Paper Award of Environmental Science & Technology.

The Centre of Expertise Watertechnology (CEW), a center for knowledge and innovation in water technology, is a unique collaboration between government, education and business in the water sector. The CEW is specially intended to increase the research cooperation between SME’s and the Universities of Professional Education (Dutch: HBO-instellingen) with an emphasis on valorisation research. CEW forms in that sense a valuable contribution in the knowledge chain from inventions to innovations.
On Wednesday January 11, 2012, the Centre of Expertise Water Technology will be opened officially by Halbe Zijlstra, State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The opening takes place at the Water Campus (Agora 4) in Leeuwarden.

It promises to be a "splashing” show. If you would like to attend, please sign up in advance by using the link below. Program (in Dutch), please see attachment or register here http://opening.cew-leeuwarden.nl/

The third edition of the successful international Wetsus Rabobank Business Challenge, powered by Deloitte and O2 Environmental, will take place from 13 to 16 March 2012. The Wetsus Rabobank Water Business Challenge is especially created for individuals or organizations with a clear product or service idea to launch in the water related business sector. The product or service must contribute to the development of sustainable solutions to face the current, increasing water shortage and water quality problems in the world. Participants may have business or social goals and different backgrounds; they may be experienced or new to the water (related) business, entrepreneurs with a common ambition: to set up a sound business. Selection of candidates is based on creativity and quality of the business idea, commitment, and attractiveness of the business plan.

The Wetsus Rabobank Business Challenge will take place in Leeuwarden, from March 13-16, 2012. The organizing partners will jointly work to ensure high quality of the program, superior services and facilities, and the attendance of many organizations and business experts in the fields of water technology, business development, sustainability and strategic planning. Registration by 1 March, 2012 at the latest. For more information please contact us at or register at http://www.wetsus.nl/pageid=674/Registration.html

January 11, 2012 Opening CEW (Leeuwarden)

January 26, 2012 Theme meetings + Program board meeting (Post Plaza, Leeuwarden) MEMBERS ONLY

March 12 - 16, 2012 Wetsus Water Challenge Science and Technology (Wetsus, Leeuwarden)

March 13 - 16 , 2012 Wetsus Water Business Challenge (Stenden, Leeuwarden)

March 20 - 22, 2012 Aqua Nederland (Gorinchem)

March 22, 2012 Wereldwaterdag

April 19, 2012 Theme meetings and workshops (Post Plaza, Leeuwarden)

September 10 - 12, 2012 Wetsus-EDS conference on MEMBRANES IN DRINKING AND INDUSTRIAL WATER PRODUCTION (De Harmonie, Leeuwarden)

September 20, 2012 Theme meetings (Wetsus, Leeuwarden) MEMBERS ONLY

October 2012 Wetsus Annual Congress (De Harmonie, Leeuwarden)

November 29, 2012 Internal Congress (Wetsus, Leeuwarden) MEMBERS ONLY