The Leaders Innovation for Technology Forum (LIFT), which aims to bring new water technology into the market quickly and efficiently, recently announced the launch of LIFT Link, an online platform connect water innovators with utilities. LIFT Link serves as a highway of interaction among municipal and industrial water, wastewater and stormwater agencies, technology providers, consultants, academics, investors, federal agencies, NGOs and others for advancing innovation.
LIFT Link allows users to discover new technologies and research needs; connect with others with similar needs, technology interests, and desired expertise; and collaborate on research and technology ideas, proposals, projects, demonstrations, and implementation.
LIFT Link currently has more than 80 technologies that have been approved through LIFT’s Technology Scan process. An expert panel reviews the technologies only accepting those, which merit recommendation to the broader water community, given their current state of development. Each technology on LIFT Link has a detailed profile that allows the technology providers to update testing and evaluation data in real time, to present their innovations to end users, and to begin a conversation and develop partnerships. Interested technology providers can apply through the site.
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With opportunity to share and present their technology, LIFT Link is a unique way for providers to source funding. First, potential investors can search for technologies or experts on LIFT Link’s Discover page. The catalog of technologies is both sortable and searchable, allowing users to easily find what suits their needs. Each technology profile includes details about the technology, where they are in development, next steps, and information about testing and demonstration results. Potential investors can connect directly with specific providers (and vice versa) to facilitate a conversation about technology pilots, demonstrations, early adoption, and follow their progress on the website.
The Needs Forum is a communications resource on LIFT Link where users can discuss needs; utilities and other organizations can post on the forum to share problems they are looking to solve with an innovative technology. In addition, other users can mark that they have the same need, which aids in identifying how pervasive this “need” is, create a community around it, and send a clear signal to the market. Consequently, investors that are on the Needs Forum can identify gaps based on what has been shared in the Forum and use LIFT Link to find the appropriate technology to fill that need. The Needs Forum can also be used for those looking to develop partnerships. Users can identify partners for research projects and proposals, as well as partner on pilots to mitigate the risks and costs associated with testing new technology.
LIFT Link is a product of the Leaders Innovation Forum for Technology (LIFT), a joint initiative by the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) that is designed to move innovation into practice. Within the next year, a few thousand users will have logged into LIFT Link, further expanding connections between groups. Technology providers that are interested in gaining exposure through LIFT Link are required to submit a LIFT Technology Scan application. Access to LIFT Link is free to WE&RF subscribers. If you are not a WE&RF subscriber and would like to view the technologies, access can be purchased for $100/person annually.
For more information about LIFT Link, contact Dr. Aaron Fisher at afisher@werf.org.
Click here for more information on LIFT Link.
This article was contributed by the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation, co-developer of the LIFT program.
