‘A list’ actors are those who are so successful that simply
having their name associated with a film guarantees a box office hit. Think Tom
Cruise, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt. B-list actors are those who seldom headline,
or only headline when they have notable supporting stars. Wikipedia tells me
that Pierce Brosnan and Nicholas Cage are now both B listers, which seems wrong
but the internet never lies. C-listers are those actors you recognise but can’t
immediately name. D-listers are those that appear on game shows. Z-listers go
on Big Brother.
This week I have been at the Abu Dhabi International Water
Summit. Isle has been running a series of Innovation Competitions throughout
the week. These Innovation competitions showcase the best of the best in the
world of water technology. Three separate competitions over three separate
days, covering Municipal, Industrial and Real Estate innovations respectively.
I like to think of it as a smorgasbord of ‘A list’ technologies, with possibly
the odd B-lister included (to make the A listers look even better).
It would be impossible to do justice to all the technologies
here, suffice to say that I spent my days bouncing in wonderment from one
mind-blower to another. There was the aeration process that ‘super oxygenates’
water, enabling not only a step change in wastewater treatment but also,
somewhat bizarrely, a 15% saving in carbon when the super-oxygenated water is
used to cure concrete (www.oxifiniti.com).
Or the low-water-usage shower developed out of the NASA ‘Mission to Mars’ space
programme (www.orbital-systems.com).
Or how about the holistic microcosm treatment process that wraps a whole
ecosystem into a space not much bigger than a stamp (slight exaggeration on my
part) (www.carexofsweden.com). Or
the water conditioner that has no moving parts and uses no chemicals and has a
payback of months. The amount of energy this simple device could save is truly
ground breaking (www.halcyanwater.com).
These technologies, along with all the others too numerous
to mention here, are all of course winners in their own right, in their own
fields. Yet our guest judges had to select our metaphorical Streeps and Pitts.
The Municipal award was taken by New Sky Energy (www.newskyenergy.com) for their gas
sweetening technology that will revolutionise the treatment of hydrogen
sulphide (a gas that smells so bad even my teenage student sons would complain
if exposed to it). The Industrial winner was Saltech B.V (www.salttech.nl), a Dutch technology that can
treat high salinity water in a low energy, single step process
(ok…to a layman that might not sound like a big thing, but trust me it is). And
the Real Estate winner was the WaterBlade, an astonishingly simple water saving
device that uses 10% of the water from a conventional tap yet gives a
gloriously luxurious handwashing experience (think Airblade hand dryers but
with water) (www.waterblade.co.uk).
Well done all.
Other highlights from this week include the intimate evening
I spent at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence, schmoozing with innovators whose
blood still pumps with Viking passion. Over my career I have been lucky enough
to work with innovation ‘hubs’ from around the world but it was at this event
that I met my first Arctic Innovation Hub. It must surely be the only one in
the Arctic Circle. Apparently its popular with car manufacturers as a testing
zone. They take cars to the point of destruction, testing their physical
robustness and speed. Bearing in mind my recent driving challenges perhaps,
just perhaps, a move to North Sweden is on the cards for the Clark family.
Final thought, the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit was
opened by a spray of global world leaders and local dignitaries. These included
the Presidents from Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and Montenegro. I guess somewhere
there is an ‘A – Z List of World Leaders’ and they must all be acutely aware of
where they sit on this list, jostling for position at each international
pow-wow.
Following Theresa May’s recent comments re the UKs ‘hard
Brexit’ I assume she is now awaiting the call to join the Big Brother house.
For previous editions of these Notes please visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/
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