Safe water supply and adequate sanitation to protect health are basic human necessities. However, the World Health Organization reports that 3.4 million people, mostly children, die from water-related diseases each year. Access to safe drinking water contributes to improved health, reduced risk of waterborne diseases. Acuva's compact, energy efficient UV-LED water treatment technology offers huge potential to address this global issue.
Acuva's proprietary IntenseBeam™ technology, developed in partnership with the University of British Columbia, combines the proven performance of UV disinfection with the energy efficiency of LEDs, maximizing available UV power through optical lensing. This purifies drinking water with microbial disinfection rates up to 99.9999% to protect health and safety without adding any chemicals into the water.
"Our UV-LED water disinfection technology enables clean drinking water globally and protects health to improve lives, all while reducing the need for single-use plastic drinking water bottles," said Manoj Singh, President & CEO of Acuva Technologies. "This funding from Genome BC's I2 Program will help Acuva's rapid growth and achieve our vision of creating a positive global impact while addressing the need for safe drinking water."
Through its Strike Platform of customizable UV-LED drinking water disinfection modules, Acuva is helping make safe drinking water more accessible through its partnerships with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of water, ice and beverage dispensing appliances. These low-power, maintenance-free systems offer product enhancement while optimizing cost of ownership. Advanced applications of this technology also include integration into lab water equipment.
"Our province still has communities where safe drinking water is not consistently available," says Dr. Tony Brooks, Chief Financial Office and Vice President, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. "Genome BC not only seeks to better the lives of British Columbians through this investment, but also to support global efforts for the millions of people around the world who still struggle on a daily basis for access to clean water."
Genome BC has invested $1 million in Acuva Technologies through its Industry Innovation (I²) program. The I² Fund provides commercialization support for companies developing innovative life science technologies that address biological challenges in key economic sectors in BC: Agriculture, Energy and Mining, Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Forestry, and Human Health. The I² Fund also supports digital health and other technologies that further move precision medicine into clinical practice. I² funding is repayable and is allocated to promising technologies (products, processes or services) at the early stages of commercial development. The Fund aims to provide risk capital that is concurrently matched by other public or private funding sources.