Last April Managing Director of Water Alliance Hein Molenkamp was present at the 2022 edition of SIWW , Singapore International Water Week, together with some 10 companies from the Netherlands. Most of them participated in the Netherlands pavilion hosted by NWP. Amongst others also Water Alliance members joined, like NX Filtration, Paques, Acquaint and HULO.
Dutch ambassador of the Netherlands in Singapore Margriet Vonno visited the Netherlands pavilion several times. She and her staff were very pro-active in promoting water expertise from the Netherlands in this region. Also she opened the Singapore – The Netherlands Innovation Forum.
Netherlands & Singapore Connection
The Singapore & Netherlands Innovation Forum was attended by over 80 participants from government agencies, industry and research institutes, and was followed by a lively B2B matchmaking session at the Netherlands Pavilion.
The Forum featured a panel discussion moderated by Johan Verlinde, Programme Manager at the Municipality of Rotterdam. He led the discussion on water management, coastal resilience and collaboration with esteemed panellists Ms Michèle Blom, Vice Minister, Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management; Ms Annemieke Nijhof, CEO of Deltares; Mr Chua Soon Guan, Deputy Chief Executive (Policy & Development) of PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency; and Prof. Koh Lian Pin, Director of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions.
The Singapore & Netherlands Innovation Forum was attended by over 80 participants from government agencies, industry and research institutes, and was followed by a lively B2B matchmaking session at the Netherlands Pavilion.
GWTHA
Water Alliance is part of a global group of water clusters gathered in the GWTHA, Global Water Tech Hub Alliance. During SIWW a GWTHA meeting was organized by member PUB Singapore. For the first time in two years, due to the Covid disease, we were able to gather physically , which was very positive. Besides Water Alliance, the GWTHA partners consist of; The Water Council from Milwaukee, USA, Watec Mekorot Israel , Korea Water Cluster from Daegu South Korea, Jiangsu water cluster China and PUB Singapore.
One of Water Alliance members Acquaint was participating in an entrepreneurs award contest from the city of Leeuwarden, called ‘De Het’. The finals of this award ceremony took place during the time at SIWW, in the middle of the night around 03.00 hrs am local, Singaporean time. So it came to pass that this small group of Dutchmen, CEO Rudy Dijkstra of Acquaint, Robbert Lodewijks of HULO and Molenkamp sitting in the lobby of the hotel witnessed at long distance that Acquaint won this prestigious award in Leeuwarden.
Following the SIWW event Hein Molenkamp of Water Alliance arranged a visit at the Singapore Water Exchange SgWX accompanied by Acquaint and HULO. Launched in July 2018, SgWX , managed by PUB Singapore is a specialized development designed to provide an integrated and conducive environment for water companies to operate and collaborate. It houses a vibrant ecosystem of water-related companies to leverage on mutual strengths and potential synergies to push the frontiers of water innovation and business growth.
SgWX offers a spectrum of workspaces to exchange ideas and build capabilities, and is a one-stop business centre with a network of partners to support businesses’ growing needs. It hosts water-related activities that convenes like-minded professionals to build networks and forge partnerships. To date, twenty one water-related companies from seven different countries are part of this collaborative ecosystem.
