Subscribe to the newsletter:
The Bayer Social Innovation Award – powered by Bayer & Get in the Ring, aims to identify the best startups and scaleups operating in the Global South to test, scale, and prove their solutions within the domains of Access & availability, Water management, and Sanitation. Through a global campaign in the regions of Latin America, Africa & the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific – the best social innovators from each region have been selected by experts from Bayer and Get in the Ring to help battle the lack of access to (clean) water for millions of people in underserved communities. Check out the 12 winning startups that are changing the course of water:
FINALIST FROM THE AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST REGION
AKYAS Sanitation (Jordan)
Low-cost, low-resource, and easily deployable non-sewered sanitation system. Translated from Arabic word “bags”, Akyas have created a portable wastewater treatment plant in a bag. Their waterless toilet solution gives access to safe sanitation for displaced populations, high-dense slum households, or other water-scarce communities. Furthermore, the by-product of the AKYAS treatment method can be used to replace synthetic fertilizers for agriculture.
KUSINI WATER (South Africa)
Water purification systems from locally sourced macadamia nut shells and nano-fibers. Kusini Water is a social enterprise with a mission to bring clean & safe water to communities in need. Their solar powered systems target communities with no grid water access, bringing clean drinking water to people in rural, peri-urban and informal settlements throughout the African continent.
Tusafishe (Uganda)
High volume water purification solution eliminating waterborne diseases. Tusafishe constructs water systems for rural communities, refugee camps, and schools. They also provide training in setting up their systems and oversee when locals construct their own domestic water filters using locally available materials.
Water Access Rwanda (Rwanda)
Offering solutions that enable access to safe and affordable water including mini-grids and off-gird safe water access solutions, rain harvesting technologies, and irrigation powered by solar energy as a service model for smallholder farmers. They are a social enterprise committed to ending water scarcity complemented by their capacity to conduct geophysical surveys and other feasibility studies.
FINALIST FROM THE LATIN AMERICA REGION
CPlantae (Mexico)
Wastewater treatment solutions using worms and plants preventing nutrient and methane pollution. CPlantae provides next-gen ecotechnologies to tackle the many challenges that wastewater treatment poses in the Latin American urban and rural contexts. Every day, their systems and installations clean up to 250,000 L of wastewater. Furthermore, they focus on youth employment.
Easy Clean Water (Venezuela)
Provides access to safe drinking water in remote communities through a self-sustainable water purification system coupled with a social-financial model. Easy Clean Water aims to create a virtuous cycle of health, entrepreneurship (job creation), and empowerment for local communities. They offer distilled water as a resource for a communal freemium model giving free drinkable water to the vulnerable (school children, elderly, hospitals) and below market price for other customers.
Fresh Water (Chile)
Creating safe water from the air, a renewable water source. The water-purification solution from Fresh Water captures the microparticles of water suspended in relative humidity. Located in both rural, suburban, and urban areas their solution aims to improve the habitability, quality of life, and health of communities without altering the environment.
SDW (Safe Drinking Water) (Brazil)
Their Aqualuz Technology makes drinking water from cisterns possible in semi-arid regions. The water is cleaned through a microbiological treatment making the water accessible for human consumption. Safe Drinking Water (SDW) is a social impact startup that develops various technologies and high durability low-cost solutions focused on sustainability and health with high impact.
FINALIST FROM THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION
Ecostp (India)
Decentralized and self-sustaining sewage treatment solutions in underground chambers without power, chemicals,or human intervention. Using biomimicry, Ecostp’s regenerative innovation is inspired by the functional principles and strategies of microorganisms and ecosystems found in a cow’s stomach.
Arosia Water (Hydrotec Solutions) (India)
Water treatment solutions to optimize cooling towers or steam boilers. HydroTech is focused on water innovations that improve operating efficiencies while reducing environmental impacts. Their solution helps to reduce water-borne diseases as well as single-use plastics that are used in packaged water.
Liquinex group (Singapore)
A compact water treatment system for rural areas using a ceramic membrane as their core technology. The mission of Liquinex is to provide sustainable and efficient water treatment solutions for disaster relief efforts providing clean drinking water to about 600 people per day from a suitcase.
Nazava (Indonesia)
Provider of household water filters turning unclean water from most sources into fresh and safe drinking water. A Nazava Water filter enables filtration of well or tap water without the need to boil or use electricity. Their mission is to provide safe drinking water to everybody everywhere by offering affordable yet high-quality water filters.
Congratulations to the shortlisted startups! The winning solution will be given access to the global Bayer agriculture and health network, become a part of the Get in the Ring startup ecosystem and get the chance to win one of the four €35,000 award prizes. The most promising startups from each region will get a ticket to the award ceremony in Europe, where they will be introduced to the international impact ecosystem to make valuable connections to scale solutions.