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The high-ranking judges evaluated the finalists presenting their technology for demonstrated excellence in the key areas, uniqueness, business potential and long-term vision and elected Austrian Vienna Water Monitoring Solutions (VWM GmbH) as "First Place Innovator" in the Industrial Water Sector.

It takes only 15 minutes to get a result on the actual bacterial contamination of water using VWM's ColiMinder® technology. Traditionally, a classical lab test on bacterial contamination takes 24 to 72 hours to deliver a result.

VWM's newest technology, for the first time in history, provides an extremely important parameter of microbiological water quality as an online parameter for quality monitoring, process control and early warning. All sectors of water industries, as well as agriculture, aquaculture and the food production chain will benefit from this new technology. With their decision, the jury is recognizing the enormous potential of this technology. Through high resolution measurements, the ColiMinder® provides a hidden insight view to enable the improvement of existing methods and development of new water treatment processes. This technology contributes to a sustainable, resource-efficient and secure future water supply and food production.

In contrast to classical lab methods, which are utilizing bacterial growth to detect contamination, VWM ColiMinder® is measuring the specific metabolic activity of target organisms. This metabolic activity is always detectable in a sample containing target organisms, therefore there is no need to wait for organisms to grow. This approach enables a reliable, fast and fully automated measurement of microbiological water quality. At present time, three different microbiological contamination groups can be addressed using the ColiMinder® device: the fecal indicators E. coli and coliform bacteria, as well as total bacteria, which is the most important parameter in process and cooling water applications.

The Jury members:

• Alan Thomson, Managing Director Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company
• Dr. Hanifa Taher, Assistant Professor - Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Masdar Institute
• Eva Ramos Perez-Torreblanca, Director - Environmental Analysis and Economics Integrated Environment Policy & Planning Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi
• Rami Ghandour, Managing Director Metito

The International Water Summit (IWS) is a global platform for promoting water sustainability in arid regions. IWS brings together world leaders, field experts, academia luminaries and business innovators to accelerate the development of new sustainable strategies and technologies. Held under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, IWS aims at fostering innovation, best practices and collaboration to offer tangible solutions to the pressing issue of water scarcity.

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