2022 Award Winners
The international entrants hailed from a variety of backgrounds, showcasing innovative solutions in the water and energy sectors.
Our esteemed panel of judges is represented by experts in the water and energy sectors.
Dragan Savić
KWR Water
Dragan Savić is Chief Executive Officer at KWR Water based in the Netherlands, and Professor of Hydroinformatics at the University of Exeter in the UK. An international expert in smart water systems with 35+ years of experience in engineering, academia and research consultancy, his work has resulted in patentable innovation and spinout companies, and he believes in “bridging science and practice” in the wider water sector and utilities in general.
Pernille Ingildsen
Hillerød Forsyning
Pernille Ingildsen is head of the Project Department at Hillerød Forsyning in Denmark, and Editor-in-Chief of AQUA at IWA Publishing. A environmental engineer with a PhD in ICA, her vast experience at innovative companies has always been focused on sustainability. Hillerød Utility established the climate and environmental Solrødgård park – with energy production, water treatment, resource recycling and climate adaptation in one area. She has also written a number of books on subjects such as water stewardship, smart utilities and wastewater treatment.
Miguel Angel Sanz
Suez International
Miguel Angel Sanz is Director of Strategic Development in Suez International based in France. Having joined the Degrémont group in 1983, he has occupied several positions in the group in Spain and France as Technical Director, Desalination Manager, Proposal Director and Business Development Director. A Past-President and Director of the IDA (International Desalination Association), and Director of AEDYR (Spanish Desalination and Reuse Association), he also served 8 years in the board of directors of European Desalination Society.
Jon Brigg
Stoic Options Ltd
Jon Brigg is the director of Stoic Options Ltd consultancy, following a career at Yorkshire Water (YW) which started in 1992. At YW, his leading role in circular economy involved ground-breaking projects such as Advanced Thermal Conversion Gasification commercial and technical demo plant; commercial demo of Integrated Resource system; anaerobic digestion research facility at University of York; an ambitious demo of SMART distribution and metering system, leading to further development of SMART for the wastewater network.
Helge Daebel
Emerald Technology Ventures
Helge Daebel leads the water practice at Emerald Technology Ventures, a globally recognised Climate Tech investor with a twenty-year investment history, having a unique traction in the water space including successful exits to major industry players (SUEZ, XYLEM and BASF) with companies like Pure Technologies and Optimatics. An Environmental Engineer by training, Helge is also co-founder and Managing Director of ripple2wave incubator, an entity dedicated to supporting seed and pre-seed stage water tech companies in Singapore.
Ryan Welsh
City of Cincinnati, Metropolitan Sewer District
Ryan Welsh is Chief Engineer at City of Cincinnati, Metropolitan Sewer District in the USA – at WEX 2022 he is joint chair of the critical session, Decarbonising Wastewater Treatment. This session explores the quest for net zero wastewater treatment, which creates an ever-increasing burden on both utilities and industrial users striving to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases from their operations. Ryan comes to WEX ‘“To get new ideas for how to deal with situations by learning from people in other parts of the world.
Jim Southworth
Box Energi Ltd
Jim Southworth, chairman of Box Energi Ltd, has over 45 years’ experience in utility sectors. From 1976 to 1990, Jim specialised in capital delivery and operational management. From 1990 to 2010 Jim was International Business Development Director for UU working in North America, South America, Central Europe and Middle East. In 2010 Jim set up an independent consultancy having clients in UK, Africa, Europe, Japan, Middle East and North America.
Paul Horton
Future Water Association
Paul Horton is CEO of the Future Water Association, Previously Director of Membership & Development at CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water & Environmental Management); International Director at British Water; and policy adviser at the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), Paul brings vast experience and knowledge to the judging panel and at WEX 2022 will joint chair the session: ‘Biotech and Digital Transformation: Creating Smart Cities of the Future’.
Juliette Douglas
Water Alliance
Juliette Douglas was responsible for marketing and communications at Water Alliance for 9 years, before moving to Portugal to be part of the International Business Development team, specialised in Italy, Spain and Portugal, to increase brand awareness of the Dutch watertech sector and build business alliances. Water Alliance is part of a unique ecosystem: the Water Campus Leeuwarden, along with Wetsus (science), and Centre of Water Technology Expertise (applied research), forming an innovation.
Tom Freyberg
Atlantean Media
Tom Freyberg is currently Founder & Managing Director of Atlantean Media, a global digital content creation company for the environmental engineering industries specialised in water. Tom is an experienced environmental journalist, connector and communicator specialising in water. He is also Content Director at Aquatech, and responsible for co-creating the Aquatech Online platform from the ground up, while populating with regular high-quality news, views and analysis for the global water market.
Beverley Ferrara
The Water Council
Beverley Ferrara is is the European Representative for Trade & Investment and Stakeholder Engagement for The Water Council. With 25 years experience providing international business development and marketing counsel to organisations in both public and private sectors, she is now responsible for inward investment, creating and nurturing relationships between The Water Council, a US non-profit for advancing water technology innovation, and European water organisations and companies.
Walid Khoury
Desalytics
Walid Khoury is a water industry veteran with 20 years of experience leading commercial organisations at Fortune 500 companies. Having led water divisions at Nalco, GE, and Danaher, he recently launched Desalytics, a fast-growing social impact company tackling the water challenges in Africa. Khoury also hosts global leaders in short video discussions showcasing the latest technology and sharing industry insights.
Francisco Javier Salguero
Idrica
Francisco Javier Salguero is an Industrial Engineer and holds a Master’s degree in Hydraulic Engineering and the Environment, specialising in urban hydraulics, from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. He has over a decade of experience in the water sector, occupying different positions of responsibility in the management of drinking water distribution, and wastewater and rainwater disposal. He is currently the Operations Business Partner at Idrica.
Oliver Grievson
Z-Tech Control Systems
Oliver Grievson is a specialist in ICA and the Smart Water Industry, having also covered the roles of analytical chemist and utilities operational manager in his extensive and varied international career. He is chairman of the Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG), Assessor & Reviewer Trainer for CIWEM, and is Technical Lead for the Water Industry at Z-Tech Systems. He also publishes WIPAC Monthly, a periodical focused on water industry process and control.