The Water Council Launches The Water Collaborative Innovation Platform

Innovative yet Practical Solutions to the Challenges of Water Safety, Aquaculture, Supply and Distribution, Quality and Sustainability

The Water Council, the School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the innovation Exchange and inno360 have formed a partnership to rapidly expand Milwaukee’s global presence in water innovation and leadership. By harnessing the power of recently's most advanced collaborative innovation technologies, together they will dramatically increase and improve public-private sector water-related collaborative research. This expert system links the knowledge economy with the innovation economy by providing an interface for academics, industry, investors and manufacturers.

The Water Collaborative Innovation Platform, showcased during The Water Council’s Water Summit 2014 in Milwaukee, is a web-based search, innovation management and analytics tool that will enable water industry and academic researchers worldwide to conduct the most complete mining of water research information that has ever existed. The platform will access data from the largest landscape of resources and greatly increase the speed of information transfer – from weeks to hours – leading to increased research productivity.

“Quite simply, the Water Collaborative Innovation Platform supercharges any web search engine with advanced search algorithms, content categorization and visualization technologies to put Water Council members at a significant advantage when seeking global solutions and global leaders,” said Dean Amhaus, president & CEO, of The Water Council. Amhaus added, “The water challenges that the world is facing are diverse and addressing these challenges is a daunting task. We believe that organizations such as The Water Council, enabled through this Platform, can pull the best minds from around the world in diverse disciplines to successfully address them.”

The Platform will be managed by The Water Council and powered by inno360, which is utilize by over 20 of the world’s largest and most innovative global companies to address their most significant innovation challenges and opportunities. Incorporating the best practices of its founders and augmented by its initial collaborators, Procter & Gamble (P&G), General Mills and the U.S. Air Force; inno360’s innovation management technology will enable The Water Council’s members to rapidly expand their reach and collaborative research with leading public and private organizations, foundations and academics around the globe. With the objective to solve the most pressing problems and needs facing water today and in the future, the Platform will be the first inno360 innovation exchange to access Elsevier’s Research Intelligence platform of extensive water-related content and unique analytics.

David EJ Garman, Dean, School of Freshwater Sciences, UW-Milwaukee and Past-President and Former Chairman of the International Water Association touted the breadth of information and analytical capabilities of the Platform: “The Water Collaborative Innovation Platform will provide our researchers with a unique tool that will enable them to obtain vital research and connect with the most knowledgeable people and organizations in the world in a fraction of time. Not only will we be able to get information but, the Platform will encourage Milwaukee researchers, both in academia and industry, to get our knowledge and information out across the world.”

“For decades, the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences and its predecessors have been at the forefront of applied research with leading corporations, nonprofit organizations and other universities around the world,” said UWM Interim Chancellor Mark Mone. “We look forward to using the inno360 technology to quickly expand the depth and breadth of research and innovation with our diverse partners.”

“Underpinning collaborative exchanges has been a core part of our technology from the beginning,” said Douglas Schaedler, inno360’s CEO. “Since inno360’s inception, we have been working with the world’s most innovative companies to solve the most pressing commercial problems of product, market and policy. Our clients have asked us to find ways to establish more effective research coordination and collaboration with academia. With the Water Collaborative Innovation Platform, we can now literally connect these dots on your computer screen.”

“Participating within the platform’s ecosystem will provide the Council’s members and the School’s faculty and graduate students with the advantage of accessing billions of pieces of relevant content for many years into the future,” stated Michael J Turillo Jr, chairman and cofounders of inno360. In particular, Turillo pointed to the unparalleled water related content and analytics of Elsevier as well as the opportunity to connect and collaborate with tens of thousands of subject matter experts globally. Turillo added, “This water centric ecosystem, coupled with the added power of cognitive intelligence approaches that inno360 are currently experimenting and developing, will result in new and exciting ways for water professionals to innovate.”

About The Water Council
The Water Council, the only organization of its kind in the United States, was established in 2009 by Milwaukee-area businesses, education and government leaders. With more than 150 water technology companies in the Milwaukee area, the region's water industry is a $10.5B dollar market and accounts for four percent of the world's total water business. The non-profit organization is linking together global water technology companies, innovative water entrepreneurs, acclaimed academic research programs and, most importantly, some of the nation's brightest and most energetic professionals. The Water Council is capturing the attention of the world and transforming the Milwaukee region into a World Water Hub for freshwater research, economic development and education. For more information, visit www.thewatercouncil.com.

About The School Of Freshwater Sciences
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences is the first graduate school in the United States dedicated solely to the study of freshwater. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along the shores of the largest freshwater system on the Earth's surface: the Great Lakes. Established in 2009, SFS expands a tradition of freshwater studies at UWM that began in 1966 with the Center for Great Lakes Studies and continued as the Great Lakes WATER Institute starting in 1973. The school’s research and education programs are integrated across four major areas: freshwater system dynamics; human and ecosystem health; freshwater technology; and freshwater economics, policy, and management. For more information, visit www4.uwm.edu/freshwater/.

About inno360
inno360's proprietary award-winning Enterprise Innovation Management solution is currently deployed in a cloud-based SaaS environment to many of the world's largest and most successful companies. Innovation drives continuous relevance and connection, and inno360 drives innovation to markets, products and business models that ensures a sustainable future. inno360 enables its' clients to more effectively manage and expand their own innovation ecosystems enhanced with inno360's connections to relevant global content, advanced analytics and networks of innovators, researchers, trusted suppliers and partners. This enhanced innovation ecosystem results in an unparalleled foundation for a richer and deeper array of innovation options, increased speed to discovery, search, evaluation, decision making and execution; all focused on innovative yet practical solutions in the areas of highest impact. For more information, visit www.inno-360.com.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make ground-breaking discoveries, that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions — among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence, and ClinicalKey — and publishes nearly 2,200 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and over 25,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works.