OxyMem, the University College Dublin spin-out company, is delighted to announce that it has been selected as one of 12 international companies to advance to the final of the 2015 Imagine H20 Water Infrastructure Challenge.

Imagine H20, based in San Francisco, is a non-profit organisation founded in 2007 by a team of leaders in the water, energy, and non-profit sectors at Harvard Business School whose mission is to inspire and empower people to solve water problems.

Imagine H20 hosts an annual business plan competition addressing specific water opportunities in areas including water efficiency, wastewater, food and agriculture, and consumer innovation.

Imagine H2O’s 6th annual Business Innovation Competition was entitled the Water Infrastructure Challenge.

In addition to cash prizes, winners gain access to the Imagine H20 water technology accelerator programme and receive mentorship from industry leaders, introductions to investors and a global network of beta customers and utility organisations.

An estimated $20 trillion investment is needed to meet the water needs of the global population according to a recent McKinsey’s Report and there is a critical need for innovation and investment in water and wastewater infrastructure. Imagine H2O’s proven path-­to-­market opportunity advances emerging businesses with scalable solutions to address the growing water and wastewater infrastructure challenges.

The competition, which has an early-stage and a growth-stage category, attracted entries from over 100 companies in 20 countries. Smart infrastructure solutions represented over a third of the entrants with a significant number of entrants presenting green and capital efficient solutions to improve water and wastewater infrastructure.

OxyMem is the only Irish company among the 12 finalists, 6 in each category, with the other companies coming from the USA, Israel and Greece. OxyMem is a finalist in the growth-stage category.

OxyMem, which is based in Athlone, was co-founded in 2013 by Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as spin-out from UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering.

OxyMem was selected as a finalist for its breakthrough technology for the wastewater aeration market which is tackling the industry's biggest challenge, energy costs. For more than 100 years wastewater treatment has relied upon energy intensive processes which compress large volumes of air to provide oxygen to the bacteria breaking down pollutants.

The OxyMem solution does not rely on these highly inefficient methods. Instead it uses gas permeable membranes capable of providing Oxygen directly to bacteria for aerobic biological processes, resulting in up to a fourfold energy saving with more compact, and lower cost infrastructure. 

Scott Bryan, COO, Imagine H20, said, “This year’s dramatic growth in applications reflects a growing interest in water innovation and our programmes effectiveness in connecting entrepreneurs to market opportunities.”

Wayne Byrne, Managing Director, OxyMem, said, “We are very excited to have been selected as a finalist for this exciting programme and look forward to engaging with industry experts and venture capitalists to gain as much opportunity as is available to us.”

He added, “We have had a very successful start for OxyMem in our initial 18 months and are confident that the Imagine H2O Water Infrastructure Challenge will help us to continue to thrive in 2015.”

Imagine H2O’s judging panel, which includes leading industry experts from venture capital firms, water utilities, and engineering businesses, based its selection of the finalists on their market viability, value proposition, and go­-to market strategy.

The 12 finalists will now go forward to a second round of judging before the category winners are announced at an event to be held on 18 March 2015 in San Francisco.