Member Article

Enzen crowns first winners of sustainable development competition

Enzen, a leading energy and water consultancy with a West Midlands base, has announced the global winners of its 2019 Innovation for Sustainable Development programme. At a finals dinner held recently in Birmingham, Enzen gathered a group of industry experts to exchange knowledge and award the top three prizes to those projects with the potential to drive positive change in the water and energy sectors.

Launched in June 2018, the Innovation for Sustainable Development programme is a crowdsourced innovation competition that seeks ideas and solutions from the best minds in the world to tackle the energy, water and environmental challenges faced by our planet. The competition drew almost 700 entries from researchers, academics, universities, industry and entrepreneurs, each one submitting concepts on ‘Transformation into a Sustainable Environment’.

A judges panel called the solutions of all four finalists ‘bold, innovative, achievable approaches to bring real change and solve some of our planet’s greatest environmental challenges.’

After presentations from each team, the final places were announced:

• Winner: The Leaksters (Australia), a project using hardware and software to reimagine the way water distribution is monitored and managed.
• Runner-up: Nitro (India), a project developing a wearable air purification system that provides real-time data and has multiple future-use cases.
• Joint-third: Novion (Canada), a project tackling water wastage through a smart platform that helps building managers and tenants optimise their water usage.
• Joint-third: SEMS (India), a project using real-time satellite imagery to help government and researchers better monitor power, water and natural resources.

In addition to funding grants – ranging from $2,000 up to $11,000 for the winner – Enzen’s team of experts will mentor the winners. As a domain specialist with deep global knowledge on urgent water and energy issues, Enzen will incubate the ideas at its research facilities and provide mentor support, assessing the best way to bring each model to market in a way that drives real change and real value.

Andy Street CBE, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “With more than 12,000 green-tech companies now calling the region their home, the West Midlands is fast becoming a hotbed for innovation in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges. With the talent and ideas it has attracted from around the world, it is easy to see why Enzen has built a reputation as a leading light in the water and energy sectors. I look forward to seeing how Enzen can help drive real change on a local and global scale.”

Kutty Prabakaran, Group CEO of Enzen, added: “Having built our international business from the West Midlands, we see it as our utmost responsibility to contribute towards the transition of Birmingham into one of the most efficient and sustainable cities in the world, a place where we can bring best practices from across the globe.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Enzen .