Milestones
NSF Development Grant
May 2023
In May 2023, the U.S. National Science Foundation awarded an NSF Engines Development Award to The Water Council to begin work on what has become Water + Energy Forward. Read the news release we issued at the time, which covers the nature of the award and the work we set out to do over its two-year period. The award’s official title is “Advancing Water & Energy Technologies for the Manufacturing & Utilities Sectors (WI, IL), Award No. 2304153.”
Later in 2023, Insight on Business magazine featured this news—and the work it has made possible—in a story titled “Engine of innovation: New-look NSF program bolsters Wisconsin as a hub for water and energy.”
NSF Innovation Engine Pre-Proposal Submission
August 2024
In August 2024, we submitted what the NSF terms a “pre-proposal”—highlighting in detail the next steps we propose in fulfilling the vision we established in the first two years under the original Development Award. Our hope is to be selected for a larger grant from the NSF that will, together with funds raised from other sources, support Water + Energy Forward’s work over the next decade.
Water + Energy Forward: TWC, Veolia Announce Workforce Partnership
September 2024
On Sept. 5, The Water Council joined Veolia North America to celebrate the grand opening of its new regional office in downtown Milwaukee. But it was also a celebration of Veolia’s commitment to our Water + Energy Forward Engine (W+E Forward) and developing the water workforce in Milwaukee. At the event, Dean Amhaus, The Water Council president and CEO, and Frederic Van Heems, president and CEO of Veolia North America, signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a Water & Wastewater Workforce Center in Milwaukee to grow the local water workforce, increase the pool of diverse talent and address workforce challenges. They also agreed to collaborate to advance new water and energy technologies to support Wisconsin’s Water + Energy Forward Engine.
This is an important step for W+E Forward, a consortium of Wisconsin universities, businesses and nonprofit organizations led by The Water Council addressing water, energy and waste challenges for small and medium-sized manufacturers and utilities in Wisconsin. The Water Council and its partners received $1 million from the National Science Foundation in 2023 to develop this regional innovation engine and is now seeking a Launch Award of up to $160 million over 10 years.
Click below to read news coverage of the Sept. 5 announcement.
