Online Water Research And Collaboration Ecosystem To Launch At International Water Technology Show

The Water Council and the innovationExchange rollout the Global Water Port – the most comprehensive tool of its kind

In conjunction with its participation at WEFTEC, the Water Environment Federation’s Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference taking place in Chicago Sept. 26-30, The Water Council will launch the Global Water Port (www.globalwaterport.com), an online research and collaboration powerhouse—and the most comprehensive water ecosystem of its kind—developed to enhance connectivity within the water technology sector and among those interested in finding solutions to water-related challenges.

Through its partnership with the innovationExchange LLC and funded by a Regional Innovative Cluster contract through the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Global Water Port utilizes inno360, a cognitive intelligence and predictive research engine equipped with IBM Watson. The Global Water Port is a great addition to the already vast pool of resources The Water Council offers to water technology business professionals, large water users, utility managers and academics.

“The Global Water Port will be the cornerstone of innovation when individuals from across the world are seeking solutions to the numerous water issues that are before us,” stated Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The Water Council. “The challenges the world is facing with respect to water are best addressed through a ‘One Water’ mindset. The Port, with its ability to investigate unbounded and unstructured data utilizing powerful analytics and visualizations, will act as a platform for collaboration and innovation between all sectors, anytime, anywhere.”

The Water Council and the innovationExchange first conceived the idea for the Port in fall 2014 as a way to dramatically increase and improve cross sector water-related collaborative research. Since then, the Global Water Port has gone through extensive development and testing to become a user friendly tool allowing participants to gain industry insight, pitch projects, find and create solutions, monitor innovations, connect with global experts and bring new ideas to life.

“We are truly pleased to be partnering with The Water Council as the Global Water Port breaks new ground and allows individuals to connect, share and access the broadest landscape of relevant data and information in the water industry,” said Michael J. Turillo Jr, chairman and co-founder of the innovationExchange and inno360.

By incorporating the latest social collaboration tools and access to the most relevant content including patent, academic and industry databases, the Global Water Port provides the water ecosystem with an unprecedented engine for learning and networking in our combined quest for innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing water needs.

The Global Water Port will be available for test runs during the WEFTEC exhibition at McCormick Place in Chicago in the Wisconsin Water Innovation Pavilion (Booth #455). A live demo for the media will be presented on September 28 at 11:30 am CST at Booth #455.

About The Water Council
The Water Council, the only organization of its kind in the United States, was established in 2009 by Milwaukee-area businesses, education and government leaders. The non-profit organization, consisting of more than 170 members, is linking together global water technology companies, innovative water entrepreneurs, acclaimed academic research programs and, most importantly, some of the nation’s brightest and most energetic water professionals. The Water Council is capturing the attention of the world and transforming the Milwaukee region into a World Water Hub for freshwater research, economic development and education. For more information, visit www.thewatercouncil.com.

About the innovationExchange LLC and inno360, Inc.
the innovationExchange develops and operates regional, national and global collaborative public/private and public/public innovation exchanges and marketplaces that enables collaborative innovation ecosystems whose communities share a common concern, interest and passion to bring innovative yet practical solutions to address core social and economic infrastructure needs in such critical areas as Economic Development, Water, Transportation, Healthcare, Energy and Education. Through its exclusive alliance with inno360’s proprietary award-winning Enterprise Innovation Management solution, that is currently deployed in a cloud-based SaaS environment to many of the world's largest and most successful companies, the innovationExchange enables its clients to more effectively manage and expand their own innovation ecosystems enhanced with inno360's connections to relevant global content, advanced analytics and networks of innovators, researchers, trusted suppliers and partners. This enhanced innovation ecosystem results in an unparalleled foundation for a richer and deeper array of innovation options, increased speed to discovery, search, evaluation, decision making and execution; all focused on solutions of the highest impact. For more information, visit www.inno-360.com.