The consortium’s goal is a technological solution to the fouling of water systems by micro-organisms and biological waste.
The MAGNET program (Generic Pre-Competitive Technologies and R&D) has set up a consortium of water technology companies, which will receive a $15 million budget from the Office of the Chief Scientist. The MAGNET program facilitates collaboration between academe and companies in new technological fields that the government wants to foster. The government funded consortia operate for a period of several years.
Partners in the new water consortium include Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the university itself, Mekorot National Water Company Bar Ilan University, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Mekorot National Water Company, and private companies Atlantium Ltd., Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd. (AIM:AFS), Arkal Filtration Systems Ltd., and BPT - Bio-Pure Technology Ltd.
The water consortium has been approved for three years. The $15 million budget is for the first year of activity, with additional budgets likely for subsequent operations. The consortium’s main goal is to develop a technological solution to the fouling of water systems by micro-organisms and biological waste, which wreak havoc on desalination plants.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 16, 2007
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