Aquatech Innovation Awards
The Aquatech Innovation Award Categories
- Water Treatment
- Circular Water & Resource Recovery
- Digitalisation & AI Award
- Startup Breakthrough Award
- Industrial & Corporate Project Award
- Lifetime Legacy Award
- Young Water Changemaker Award
- Community Award (Overall Winner)
The entries will be judged on 3 criteria
- Originality (50%)
- Practicality (technical, economical, feasibility, 25%)
- Sustainability (environment, security, energy efficiency, 25%)
The Aquatech Innovation Award jury
- Prof.Dr.Ir. C.J.N Buisman (Wetsus)
- Prof. Dr. Ir. W. M. de Vos (TU Twente)
- Dr, Paul O Callaghan (Bluetech Research)
- Dr. Ir. Wilbert van de Ven EMBA (Grundfos Holding A/S)
- Ir. C.A. Uijterlinde (STOWA)
- Prof. M. Kennedy, PhD (IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education)
- Prof. Drs. J.S. Vrouwenvelder, PhD (KAUST King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)
- Dr. Ted Mao (University of Toronto)
Innovation Award Charity
The Innovation Award registration fees are contributed to Water for Life, serving as the global Aquatech community to give back to society. Founded in 2004, the Water for Life Foundation believes that everyone has the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. That's why they provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation to people in poor neighbourhoods in African and Asian cities. Water For Life works with local non-profit water utilities and public services.
About the Water for Life Foundation
Water is life. That is why the Water for Life Foundation works to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for vulnerable people worldwide. The Water for Life Foundation is an initiative of Dutch drinking water companies. Through this unique collaboration, 100% of every donation goes directly to our projects, while the long-term sustainability of these projects is ensured. With donations, the Water for Life Foundation builds water pipelines and toilets, including in schools, installs public water taps and household water connections, and provides hygiene education.
Visit www.waterforlife.nl to learn more about our work and how you can help make clean water and sanitation accessible to everyone.
Overall winner Innovation Award 2025
A new innovation developed in the Netherlands that can sustainably remove micro-pollutants during wastewater treatment has been crowned the Overall Winner of this year’s Aquatech Innovation Award. The development by consulting engineers Royal HaskoningDHV is the result of collaboration with Wageningen University.
Known as ‘Aurea’, the solution combines the best properties of biological activated carbon filtration and oxidative treatment to remove a wide range of organic micro-pollutants. It is designed for use in wastewater treatment plants, drinking water production sites, and industrial wastewater treatment facilities, helping to meet the objectives of the European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD).
