The Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA), in conjunction with numerous partners from throughout the Lake Erie basin, including NASA Glenn Research Center and the Great Lakes Observing System, will present a first-ever Erie Hack Competition and Water Innovation Summit, May 2-3, at the Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland, Ohio.
Erie Hack is a tech-driven international water innovation competition and accelerator program
that will culminate in this two-day summit. The summit will explore the role of new technologies, innovation and collaboration (six cities, two countries) as part of an eco-system approach to generate enduring solutions to Lake Erie’s biggest challenges. Participants will present innovative solutions to challenge statements around Lake Erie such as algal blooms and urban pollution.
“We’re excited to present this competition and summit that we believe will bring brilliant ideas
to water innovation and put the spotlight on Cleveland,’’ said CWA Executive Director Bryan Stubbs. “The goal is to raise awareness about our precious freshwater resource and turn the teams’
big ideas into start-ups that will drive innovation and economic development in Northeast Ohio
and the Lake Erie region.”
RELATED: Cleveland Water Alliance launches ‘Erie Hack’ as part of Innovation Summit
CWA’s work is resulting in new ideas, new start-ups and real economic development around freshwater issues that can serve as a global model. The Erie Hack Summit is an extension of that effort. The summit will bring together some of the world’s leading minds in water innovation and technology, including experts from NASA, regional and national water utilities and large corporations such as GE and IBM. In addition, the event will feature top entrepreneurs, philanthropists, watershed managers, elected officials and more.
Erie Hack Final Presentations
The Water Innovation Summit will also feature the Erie Hack finalists, who will vie for $100,000 in prizes and accelerator services. Eight teams that advanced from competitions in six partner cities (Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo, Erie, Pa., and Windsor, Ontario) will present their solutions to significant challenges facing Lake Erie.
A panel of experts will select the $50,000 Grand Prize winner and several other winners who will receive cash and services to launch their solutions into the marketplace. The next four to six highest-scoring teams from any city also qualify. (Teams from Erie, Pa., are also competing.) Total cash and
accelerator services awarded will total $100,000, which can be used to launch a company.
Teams will present their solutions on Day 2 of the Summit, which will be filled with engaging
speakers and judges, such as Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s jet propulsion
laboratory, and former Priceline.com co-founder Jeff Hoffman. The summit will feature panels
on topics such as the role of new innovation and technology and entrepreneurship to solve our
water challenges.
The Erie Hack is an opportunity to drive innovation in the water technology sector and engage young people in the creation of the emerging “Blue Economy.” The event is hosted and sponsored by The Cleveland Water Alliance in collaboration with Digital C as well as local champions, startup incubators and accelerators, and funders from each of Lake Erie’s major metropolitan areas (Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Windsor, Erie and Toledo). Key partners include NASA GRC, the University at Buffalo, Kent State University, Case Western Reserve University, IBM, GE, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland Metroparks, Wayne State University, the University of Toledo, TechTown Detroit, LaunchPad Incubation at the University of Toledo, Thinkbox, HIMSS, Great Lakes Science Center, WEtech Alliance, Innovation Collaborative in Erie and the Blackstone LaunchPad in Buffalo.
Who Should Attend?
Anyone who cares about water and its impact on our community and economy. Additionally, those interested in the use of technology to combat and alleviate the water challenges that affect one of our region’s great assets – Lake Erie. Technologists, industry, community members, regional leaders, entrepreneurs, utilities, funders, students, watershed managers, researchers, elected officials, public sector, municipalities
Key sponsors include the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland Division of Water,
AT&T, GLOS and HIMSS Innovation Center. Significant support also comes from The George
Gund Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation,
The Cleveland Foundation and the Burton D Morgan Foundation.
The Summit is open to anyone and registration is open at www.eriehack.io. To receive half off registration, register here and use the promo code SC2019.
Utility Partners can obtain eight CEU hours under four different categories: Drinking Water, Wastewater, Drinking & Wastewater, Operations and Maintenance. For more information on Cleveland Water Alliance or Erie Hack, visit the CWA on Facebook, or follow on Twitter @ErieHack.
About Erie Hack
This is a tech-driven international water innovation competition and
accelerator program that will bring together coders, developers, engineers, data experts, and
water professionals to generate creative solutions to Lake Erie’s biggest challenges. The
competition, which will award more than $100,000 in cash and accelerator services to up to four
winning teams and one high school team, focuses on creating publicly accessible mobile apps,
open data and new technology and solutions to elevate the value of clean water and leverage its
potential to drive the economy of the Great Lakes Region.
About the Cleveland Water Alliance
Established in 2014, CWA is a non-profit organization that seeks to better utilize the economic and job-creating potential of Lake Erie while also urging greater care of this valuable, natural asset. We are working to bring together Northeast Ohio’s water providers, business and political leaders, researchers and environmental organizations to establish Cleveland as a nationally recognized center for water innovation.
