DAY ONE MORNING

Lord Chris Smith, Chairman, UK WATER PARTNERSHIP, UK

• How can utilities better understand and manage technology risk through new procurement and alliancing models?
• How can procurement models promote the incorporation of advanced technologies in large-scale water projects? What incentive mechanisms have been proven to work?
• How can new partnership models between utilities, engineering consultancies and technology providers shape the development of solutions which better meet the needs of today’s utilities?
• What are the particular challenges faced by different stakeholders in the water supply chain in bringing innovation to market?
• What can we learn from other industries such as energy and telecoms about how they build innovation into their operations?
• People can make or break the success of technology adoption: How can utilities create a culture of change within their operations and prepare people to embrace advanced technologies?
• Case studies of success in piloting, validating and commercialising new water-tech solutions

Avraham Ben Yosef, Engineering & Technologies VP, MEKOROT, ISRAEL
Keith Wishart, Senior Managing Consultant, IBM, UK
Laurent Auguste, Senior Executive VP Innovation and Markets, VEOLIA, FRANCE
Mark LeChevallier, Director, Innovation & Environmental Stewardship AMERICAN WATER, USA

Trevor Hill, Chairman, FATHOM GLOBAL WATER, USA

• How do we make innovation more efficient and reduce the time to market of new solutions?
• The role of the technology integrator in accelerating the transformation of viable technologies into large-scale commercialization
• Staying ahead of the game: Identifying new business models, and new ways to integrate and collaborate with different stakeholders in the chain
• What are the best strategic/economic criteria for analyzing an investment proposition? How do technology integrators ensure their vetting process focuses resources on the best opportunities?
• Weighing up internal R&D vs external collaboration: When to invest/incubate and when to buy out? When to partner and when to acquire?
• Best practice in structuring partnerships and alliances to create a win-win for the technology developer and the corporate investor
• Sharing success stories of corporate venturing and technology piloting in the water-tech sector

Session Chair:  Booky Oren, Chairman & CEO, BOOKY OREN GLOBAL WATER TECHNOLOGIES, ISRAEL

Phil Rolchigo, Vice President Global Technologies, PENTAIR, USA
Snehal Desai, Global Business Director, DOW WATER & PROCESS SOLUTIONS, USA

Each of the morning’s speakers will host a roundtable discussion, during which delegates can dig more deeply into the issues raised during the morning’s panels.

Smart Water Meters, Communication Infrastructure, Network Monitoring and Automation Technology, Data Management and Analytics

Mark Bond, CEO, BREIVOLL, NORWAY
Assaf Bassi, CEO, HYDROSPIN, ISRAEL
Wayne Byrne, Managing Director, OXYMEN, IRELAND
Michael Murray, Managing Director, NVP IRELAND

DAY ONE AFTERNOON

• What does “smart” really mean to today’s utilities?
• How can the water sector capitalize on the potential value created by Big Data, M2M connectivity and the Internet of Everything?
• Data-driven asset management: How can we use data to extend the operations of existing facilities and make better investment decisions for the future?
• What are the unique connectivity and communications challenges that face water networks?
• Creating game-changers: If utilities seek a return on investment in 3-5 years, how can smart solution providers come together to meet this challenge?
• What do we know now about smart water that we wish we knew five years ago?

Session Chair:  Stuart Moss, Head of Water Consulting,ISLE UTILITIES, UK

Ken Thompson, Director, Intelligent Water Solutions, CH2M HILL, USA
Steve Kaye, Head of Innovation, ANGLIAN WATER, UK
Roy Wiesner, CEO, HUTCHISON KINROT, ISRAEL
Steve George, Business Development Manager, AQUALOGY, UK

• What technologies do utilities need in order to become more competitive in the retail sector?
• How can the digitization of water networks help industrial clients reduce their water use?
• What analytics and information are most valuable to industrial clients?

Alan Sutherland, CEO, WATER INDUSTRY COMMISSION FOR SCOTLAND, UK
Rupert Kruger, Head of Innovation and Business Retail, THAMES WATER, UK

• How can smart, data-driven water solutions contribute to the resilience of our cities?
• What data do cities need and what are they willing to pay for?
• How are the leading sustainable cities connecting water infrastructure with energy, transport and communications, and what could a truly connected city look like?
• How can decentralized wastewater treatment systems contribute to the resilience and sustainability of today’s cities?
• How can models for decentralized energy generation be applied in the wastewater sector, and are we seeing the two begin to converge?
• What policy changes and incentives are required to make decentralized solutions viable for cities?
• How are cities financing new infrastructure, and what new models can the water industry offer to share the risks and rewards of a smarter approach to water management?

Session Chair: Alexander McPhail, Lead Water & Sanitation Specialist, WORLD BANK

Bernard Tan, Managing Director, PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD, SINGAPORE
Jan Rasmussen, Program Manager, Climate Unit, CITY OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
Roman Llagostera, Deputy Manager of Environment and Urban Services, BARCELONA CITY COUNCIL, SPAIN

• Investors who’ve invested in water technology companies during 2014 come together in a panel to discuss their recent investments and share their insight into what makes a good deal in this sector

Session Chair:  Kerry Freek, Manager of Marketing and Communications, WATERTAP, CANADA

Nityen Lal, Founder and Managing Partner, ICOS CAPITAL, NETHERLANDS
Investment: High Voltage Water and Metal Membranes
Ansgar Kirchheim, Investment Manager, HIGH-TECH GRUNDERFONDS MANAGEMENT, GERMANY
Investment:Akvolution
Reinhard Hübner, Investment Manager, SKION, GERMANY
Investment: SH+E and Pyregea
François-Xavier Meyer, Investment Director, SEB ALLIANCE
Investment: Advanced Mem-Tech

DAY TWO MORNING

Usha Rao-Monari, Chief Executive Officer, GLOBAL WATER DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS, UK

• Multilateral agencies and global infrastructure investors address the opportunities and challenges in integrating advanced technologies into major infrastructure projects in emerging markets
• Where will we see growth in major new water infrastructure being developed over the next 5-10 years and what is the potential for private sector participation in these projects?
• To what extent will we see emerging markets leapfrogging the rest of the world in terms of innovation in water infrastructure?

Malinne Blomberg, Chief Financial Analyst, Water and Sanitation Department, AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, TUNISIA

• Industrial water users are no longer restricting their involvement in water to what goes in within the factory gates: How can wastewater treatment, re-use and recycling technologies be used to manage water throughout the catchment?
• How great is the potential for pre-packaged, modular water and wastewater recycling solutions in the industrial sector and which technologies are gaining most traction?
• The industrial water market is highly fragmented: What is the role of technology integrators in helping small tech companies penetrate this complex market?
• Industrial water users are increasingly looking to finance water and wastewater treatment facilities off balance-sheet: How can these projects be financed and what could the model look like?
• Exploring new models for developing water assets for industrial clients: How could such projects be structured? What could the role of the investor, the project developer and the technology provider look like?
• The potential for new, service-led business models to supply industrial water users

Session Chair:  Piers Clark, Business Development Director, GLOBAL WATER DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS, UK - Michael Avant-Smith, Commercial Director, NUWATER,UK
Lydia Whyatt, Investment Manager, RESONANCE ASSET MANAGEMENT, UK
Liam Curran, Senior Technologist, ENTERPRISE IRELAND, IRELAND

Wastewater treatment, resource recovery, re-use, low-energy wastewater treatment and desalination

Session Chair: Keith Hay,Director, BLUEFIELD RESEARCH, SPAIN

Pascal Le Melinaire, Founder, BGH, FRANCE
Herman Grobler, Managing Director, MIWATEK, SOUTH AFRICA
Lee Savage, Director, SAVAGE SHOWERS, UK
Matt Stephenson, Business Unit Director AQUALOGY, UK
Lutz Bungeroth, CEO, ITN NANOVATION, GERMANY

• Identifying the most critical technologies: What specific areas of water technology are energy companies most interested in today?
• How are new technologies pushing the boundaries and opening up new opportunities?
• Are we moving towards water-neutral energy production, and what will it take to get us there?
• How can technology providers work in partnership with energy companies to help them achieve their sustainability goals?
• How are energy companies sharing successful technology solutions and what new models could be developed to accelerate the development and implementation of water technologies within the oil and gas industry?

Session Chair: Paul O’CallaghanCEO, BLUETECH RESEARCH, IRELAND

Anna Halpern-Lande, Senior Venture Principal, SHELL TECHNOLOGY VENTURES, NETHERLANDS
Laurent Auguste, Senior Executive VP Innovation and Markets, VEOLIA, FRANCE

Each of the morning’s speakers will host a roundtable discussion, during which delegates can dig more deeply into the issues raised during the morning’s panels.

DAY TWO AFTERNOON

• What could the water, waste and energy markets look like in 20 years?
• How can we work towards a truly integrated resource economy where water, waste and energy are more closely interwoven?
• How are leading technology integrators creating complete solutions that bridge these categories and provide game-changing value for clients?
• Closing the Loop: What does total resource recovery from wastewater look like and what technologies do we need in order to achieve this?
• Advanced anaerobic digestion, thermal hydrolysis, dewatering and biosolids recovery
• Extracting fats and greases
• Gasification of solid materials within wastewater
• What are the barriers to creating energy positive water utilities?
• How can the water industry work more closely with the food waste, municipal waste, and industrial waste sectors to create renewable energy and resource centres utilizing advanced energy recovery solutions?

• Leading investors offer advice to entrepreneurs on how to position their companies to attract investment, and how to identify the right partners for success
• How does water-tech investment stack up in terms of return rate and risk profile?
• Who is investing in water technology and how can water tech companies attract the right partner?
• Opportunities to invest to get the proper return: where are the niches where costs can be recovered in the value chain