Singapore International Water Week 2012 Closes on a High

Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2012, themed "Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities", achieved a new record of S$13.6 billion in total value for the announcements on projects awarded, tenders, investments and R&D MOUs made at the event. Held together with the World Cities Summit and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore, the event attracted 18,554 participants from 104 countries / regions, and welcomed a record 750 participating companies. This year's Water Expo had 16 international group pavilions, including first-time participants, State of Illinois and Trenchless Asia 2012. Housed within 17,000 square-metres of covered exhibition space on a single floor, the Water Expo saw a two-fold increase in the number of participating companies since the inaugural event in 2008.

This year's focus on sharing and co-creation of water solutions was brought into sharp focus with a host of announcements on joint collaborations in R&D. A number of new projects and investments were also announced at this year's Water Week, reinforcing SIWW as a key platform for water companies to share market trends, opportunities and explore collaborations.

At the Middle East and North Africa Business Forum, Saudi Arabia's National Water Company announced that they would be investing approximately S$11 billion on capital expenditure on municipal water infrastructure such as water & used water treatment plants, networks and mains etc, for four major cities – Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Taif – over the next five years.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), the Philippines' leading water authority, announced its US$1.5 billion investment programme to establish a Water Security Legacy (WSL) for the 15 million residents of Metro Manila.

Singapore-based United Engineers Limited (UEL) announced three environmental engineering contracts worth over S$70 million, including two projects at the Changi Water Reclamation Plant and one for a waste-to-energy project at a poultry farm in Singapore.

Home-grown water company Hyflux also officially launched its Hyflux Innovation Centre, serving as the nerve centre of Hyflux's global operations. Besides the executive and corporate offices, the centre will also house its engineering design and technology commercialisation departments, and the R&D laboratories.

With an encouraging turnout of over 200 participants, the inaugural Industrial Water Solutions Forum presented key industry perspectives on the challenges faced by the oil and gas, food and beverage, mining, and chemical sectors and how innovative solutions can turn these challenges into business opportunities.

TechXchange this year saw strong interest with a turnout of over 200 participants, double that of the inaugural event in 2011, as well as a line-up of 21 water R&D innovations from Singapore and all over the world. Feedback from the workshop has been positive, with investors expressing interest in several of the technology providers.

Prototypes of some of the new, cutting-edge local technologies, such as the Fish Activity Monitoring System, Aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes and the Parasitometer presented at the TechXchange, were also showcased at the Water Innovations@SIWW booth.

"We're very grateful for the stronger-than-ever industry support and delighted that the success of this year's event has strengthened its stature as the global platform for the sharing and co-creation of innovative water solutions," said Mr. Maurice Neo, Managing Director of the Singapore International Water Week. "This year, we reinforced the stage with a strong focus on industrial water solutions and commercialisation of innovative water technologies. It is in line with our commitment to continue to add value to our delegates and partners and stay relevant as a key global water event."

"In addition to our founding sponsors and strategic partners, we will also be working with other partners including the International Water Summit in Abu Dhabi, the Dutch water industry, and the Global Water Intelligence to organise discussion platforms for specific topics, and you can expect to hear about these in the months ahead. This will pave the way for insightful conversations at SIWW 2014, which will be held together with the World Cities Summit and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore," added Mr. Neo.