AquAffirm: innovative tests and software for measuring, mapping and monitoring contaminants in drinking water
Winner of the Emerging Technologies Competition 2018
Case study: October 2020
What was their business idea?
Traditional methods for testing and monitoring water contamination - which impacts on the health of millions of people around the world - are analogue, slow and difficult to interpret, using a basic colour metric system.
AquAffirm is developing the first digital sensors that have been designed to measure serious water contaminants like arsenic and fluoride. Its rapid, web-connected test, which uses affordable purpose-designed test strips, will transform the way arsenic mitigation programmes will run in the future. Beyond the sensor technology, the underpinning digital platform collects the data to be uploaded, analysed and mapped in real time, with the easily interpretable results available within three minutes.
Where are they now?
Since winning in 2018, the business has conducted a significant amount of research and development. Substantial progress was made in the summer of 2019 in particular, with the team heading to Bangladesh to conduct early testing with the initial prototype. The business has also won a grant from Innovate UK to take the technology forward and fully launch in 2021 (having had its planned 2020 launch postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic), and has had very positive interaction with potential customers, generating encouraging feedback from major organisations in the field.
What are AquAffirm’s plans for the future?
In the short term, AquAffirm is currently raising investment to enable it to launch its working solution as part of an imminent arsenic mitigation programme currently planned for roll-out in Bangladesh with UNICEF and Water Aid.
Longer term, AquAffirm believes its current solution is simply the start for building a business that has the capability to create sensors for a range of different contaminants (including heavy metals - for example lead and cadmium - as well as organics) that impact people’s health, but aren’t currently well served using the same base technology. The business will also be looking at taking the technologies beyond the developing world and into more advanced markets, including the United States and parts of Europe, which still suffer from naturally-occurring and fracking-related arsenic problems.
Ultimately, the arsenic capability, which is intended to be a base platform upon which to add other chemistries and tackle other contaminants, will contribute to an overarching business model in which AquAffirm will act as a holding company developing and out-licensing a portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in areas ranging from medical diagnostic technologies to nanomaterials.
What was their favourite part of taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
“The competition is an excellent way to get a view from both external experts in chemistry and business on the proposition of your technology. You also get to see the kinds of issues other people are solving and how they are presenting them to these experts, so it’s a terrific learning exercise. The publicity and networking opportunities that have arisen from being involved have also proved to be invaluable to our progress.”
What the team say:
“The competition is an excellent way to get a view from both external experts in chemistry and business on the proposition of your technology. You also get to see the kinds of issues other people are solving and how they are presenting them to these experts, so it’s a terrific learning exercise. The publicity and networking opportunities that have arisen from being involved have also proved to be invaluable to our progress.”
David Sharpie, CEO, AquAffirm
Contact us
- Email:
- Emily Vipond