Northwestern, Ben Gurion Universities Launch Joint $21.4 Million Water Technology Venture

The new government-supported initiative will focus on the development and commercialization of energy-efficient water supply and reuse technologies

Elham Nasser Eddin 11:5312.03.20
TAGS:

Northwestern University and BGN Technologies Ltd., the technology commercialization company of Israel-based Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, announced Thursday the launch of a joint venture to develop technologies in the field of water conservation and renewable energy. Dubbed the Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center (CoWERC), the consortium has received a total budget of $21.4 million.

 

CoWERC is administered by the U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, and its budget includes a $9.2 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy and Israel’s Ministry of Energy together with the Israel Innovation Authority.

 

Professor of environmental and water sciences at BGU, Amit Gross. Photo: Dani Machlis Professor of environmental and water sciences at BGU, Amit Gross. Photo: Dani Machlis
The CoWERC team will research, develop, and commercialize technologies in three areas: energy-efficient water supply, the reuse of wastewater, and energy-water systems, according to the statement. Other participants in the consortium include Argonne National Laboratory, Yale University, the water technologies division of the DuPont chemicals company, Israeli research university the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and Israel's national water company Mekorot.