Accelerating innovation from Argentina
A new water innovation hub is setting out to help build and scale solutions from Argentina for global challenges in water and sanitation.
It is called Enlace AySA after Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos, the water utility serving 14 million people in Argentina capital city, Buenos Aires.
A strategic partner is the Latin American Association of Water and Sanitation (ALOAS).
A hackathon called “Water Challenges 2030” will help to kickstart activities, slated to take place virtually in the middle of October.
A total of 30 multidisciplinary teams will take part across four areas, including Drinking Water, Sanitation, Users and Strategic Resource and Organisation.
Hackathon partners include Microsoft, Google, Watershare, United Nations Global Compact, SAP and many others.
A window to the future
The Enlace hub is part of Malena Galmarini’s plan to take innovation from Argentina to the rest of the world. vision
The president of the utility AySA, the second-largest utility in Latin American and fifth globally, said: "Just as water is an indispensable factor for life, the ecosystem that has been built around this essential good can generate opportunities for educational development. It can become an engine for innovation and promote unity in diversity.
“Where there is water, there is life and opportunity opens up – a window to the future. It will be a mistake to think of the post-pandemic work as we did before. New places, spaces and platforms where ideas converge and commitment is manifested will be elementary.”