The Water Council and A. O. Smith Corporation announced the next round of the BREW Accelerator and BREW Corporate Accelerator powered by A. O. Smith Corporation. The program connects water technology startups with resources to validate and advance their business models and technologies.
“The Water Council is excited to launch the seventh cohort opportunity with the BREW Accelerator,” stated Steve Glynn, Director of entrepreneurship at The Water Council. “If you're an entrepreneur in water technology, there's nothing like the BREW experience to connect you to the right resources and people who can help move your company forward.”
Competition areas of focus
The current round of the BREW Accelerator competition will focus on two areas of interest:
- Technology to address agriculture run-off
- Emerging technologies
The BREW Corporate Accelerator powered by A. O. Smith Corporation is focused on the following areas of interest:
- Residential and commercial drinking water treatment technologies
- High-efficiency, low-emission water heating technologies
- Sensor technologies for continuous or semi-continuous monitoring of trace level contaminants
- Technologies used in residential and commercial water heating and drinking water treatment applications that sense, process, and deliver valuable information
Seed funding, office and research space
“A. O. Smith is proud to once again extend our expertise and resources to help support freshwater entrepreneurs and technology startups,” said Sam Karge, President of the North America Water Treatment division at A. O. Smith. “We’re pleased to be in a position to help promising, early-stage water companies in bringing their innovations and ideas to life.”
Since 2013, the BREW (Business - Research - Entrepreneurship - in Water) Accelerator has provided nearly 40 water technology startups with seed funding, low-cost office and research space in the Global Water Center in Milwaukee, access to university R&D, and mentorship to move their companies forward. The three-month hands-on curriculum focuses on weekly business validation activities with coaches to define their value proposition and understand needs.
Access to coaching
“The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is a proud supporter of the BREW Accelerator program. Accelerators are a critical resource for helping startups hone their concepts and more effectively use their resources,” said Aaron Hagar, Vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). “Programs like the BREW give startups and entrepreneurs access to coaching to help build their businesses more effectively and efficiently than they ever could on their own.”
Applications to be accepted from Sept. 23 – Nov. 3, with the next BREW Accelerator cohort beginning in April 2020.
The Water Council is at WEFTEC in the Wisconsin Water Lounge on the Grand Concourse of McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois from Sept. 23 - 25.