Nev. incubator’s mission: Improve water management
By Daniel Rothberg, Las Vegas Sun
It has attracted interest from a company from Canada and one from California, established operating agreements with two companies in Israel, begun negotiating with three companies from Europe, started examining partnerships in Dubai and opened an ongoing dialog with the public utility in Singapore.
The Center of Excellence, a nonprofit incubator at the Desert Research Institute for water technology startups, has come a long way since it first received funding in 2013. And in the last six months, thanks to an infusion of funding during the legislative session, it’s shifted into a higher gear in its quest to improve conservation of one of the most coveted resources in Nevada: water. Its two most recent calls for business proposals — one of which closed Tuesday and the other in September — generated interest from about 30 companies.
The basic premise of its model is to bring companies to Nevada with research and development funding to support projects that simultaneously satisfy the demands of the state’s water agencies. This, officials say, will spur economic development in water technology, an area where Nevada has plenty of experience, while supporting higher-education research.
