The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region is defined by a deep connection to water.
For many in this region, water is a part of daily life.
It defines livelihoods, shapes municipalities, and sustains life itself.
But water challenges across this region are intensifying.
While investment in water innovation is accelerating globally, new solutions do not automatically reach the communities that need them most.
The real issue is not a lack of solutions, but a disconnect between innovation and implementation.
Gatherings such as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Annual Conference help bridge that gap. By bringing innovators and municipal leaders into the same room, it shows what becomes possible when promising solutions meet the people who can put them into practice.
Municipal Barriers
Water availability, aging infrastructure, microplastic pollution, PFAS contamination, and aquatic invasive species - these are among the most pressing water challenges facing the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region today.
While municipalities in the region are aware of these risks, they are often focused managing day-to-day operational demands.
“When you're a mayor, you're literally putting out fires. It's also bandwidth and being able to seek out that innovation,” says Jon Altenberg, CEO and President of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
According to Julie Wright, Councillor of Ward 7 at City of Waterloo and National Director at Our Living Waters, innovation is often constrained by tight timelines and capacity at the municipal level.
“I think the big barrier for municipalities in being innovative is that it takes a long time to do things at the municipal level.”
As a result, having access to credible data and tested solutions becomes essential.
“We all need really good data, especially decision-makers.”
Innovation Barriers
For innovators bringing new technologies to address these issues, the main barrier to adoption is proving that their solutions work outside the lab.
According to Ryan Iaccovacci, co-founder and CEO at Myconaut and AquaHacking alumnus, that means going beyond laboratory testing and into real world pilots and proof of concept projects.
“People want to see it in the field. Connecting innovators with municipalities willing to test new approaches, even on limited budgets, is critical.”
When innovators have opportunities to test their solutions with municipalities, communities can move from reacting to water challenges toward preparing for them.
And while this region faces no shortage of challenges, it is equally rich in innovation ready to meet them.
According to the Quebec delegate to Chicago, Jean-François Hould, who spends a lot of time in the region:
“I see firsthand the number of startups emerging with strong, practical solutions to these problems.”
Connecting Solutions to Communities
AquaAction is helping elevate innovators who are already building solutions on the ground.
This past May, at the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Annual Conference, municipal leaders had the chance to engage with them directly.
John Dickert, former mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, understands firsthand the value of bringing municipalities and innovators into the same room.
“Thankfully, a lot of people like AquaAction have encouraged new innovators to come out of the woodwork and say, "Wait a minute, I think I found a solution to fix this." Without that, you're just not going to get the inherent efforts and new ideas that come out that allow municipal leaders to find the solutions.”
Events like this help uncover innovators who might otherwise go unnoticed by making their solutions visible to municipal leaders who can test them in the real world.
For Ryan Iaccovacci, this is the value AquaAction offers.
“The introductions that AquaAction has made to those people who are willing to try something new, who have a small budget, and who work with engineering firms, allow us to bring those groups together and get everybody excited about a novel technology.”
Without that kind of support, it’s difficult for promising technologies to generate the momentum needed to reach the people, such as municipal leaders, who can implement them.
For other innovators, like Abbatek’s Jackie Ray Bauman, the opportunity to connect with leaders and innovate in this region will have important downstream effects.
“By tackling the issue in the Great Lakes specifically and putting all of our energy into addressing this crisis here, we’re going to find benefits throughout the St. Lawrence River and into the Atlantic Ocean.”
This is what bridging the gap really means: Local action that drives regional progress and makes a difference well beyond the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region.