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Australian Water Association Launches Sustainability Competition

As part of a recently announced global competition, the Australian Water Association is seeking businesses and entrepreneurs to submit their ideas and innovative solutions to water sustainability challenges.

An association working toward sustainable water management in Australia is turning to entrepreneurs and businesses around the world for help in solving sustainability challenges with one of the world’s most valuable resources.

Last week, the Australian Water Association announced the Australian Water Innovation Challenge 2015, which is calling on companies to submit innovative water technology solutions in a broad range of industries, including food and beverage manufacturing and the energy and resources sectors.

“AWA is looking for ideas that could potentially transform the sustainability of communities and businesses, both in Australia and around the world,” Jonathan McKeown, AWA CEO, said in a statement [PDF]. “AWA, and our 4,500 members, understand that innovation and entrepreneurship are necessities for growth, and global growth is only achievable through preserving our most important resource—water.”

The competition opened last Friday, and interested participants have until May 8 to enter their ideas. The winner will be announced at Australia’s International Water Conference & Exhibition in May and will receive a full-page editorial in AWA’s journal, a tailored B2B program that will help introduce the winning idea to potential users, an entry to the Australia Water Awards, and additional promotional support.

Research has shown that parts of Australia could face a water crisis by the end of this century as a result of changes in the world’s climate. The Water Innovation Challenge is not limited to what can be done in Australia, though.

“We are looking for ideas that can transfer across industries, countries, and applications,” McKeown said. “No idea is too big or too small.”

To help administer the challenge, AWA is partnering with global startup competition platform YouNoodle. “Every day we are seeing organizations, governments, and corporations turn to innovation to help answer questions and innovate within almost every industry,” Torsten Kolind, cofounder and CEO of YouNoodle, said in a statement. “The Australian Water Innovation Challenge is a great example of this trend and we are proud to be a part of this unique competition.”

Startup competitions have been gaining ground in the association industry recently as stagnant and growing industries have been looking to generate new ideas to either solve problems or stimulate further growth.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Katie Bascuas

By Katie Bascuas

Katie Bascuas is associate editor of Associations Now. MORE

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