More than two billion people live in deserts and drylands, which cover approximately 40% of the earth. As these numbers continue to rise, so does the urgency of developing technologies to ensure food and water security.

With one of the world’s leading DeserTech ecosystems, Israel is among the tiny number only countries in the world to reverse desertification by developing innovative solutions enabling sustainable living in an arid climate. As a result, Israel attracts leading scientists, environmentalists, and solar energy enthusiasts seeking to learn from and replicate its success.

Over 300 Israeli start-up companies are developing technologies either specifically geared to, or potentially adaptable for, desert environments, and have raised over USD 350 million in investments.

The Negev is the Heart and Future of DeserTech

A major enabler and contributor to the initiation and operation of DeserTech startups was (and continues to be) the Negev Desert. For decades, it has been a living laboratory for developing solutions that will enable sustainable living in an arid climate. Even in the days of David Ben-Gurion, the Negev was declared to be the place where the people of Israel would be examined, and he dreamed that a Hebrew Oxford would be built there – a space of spiritual creation and advanced science. Today, Israeli DeserTech is concentrated in the Negev region, part of the world’s desert belt and a living laboratory of science and technology.

Institutions in the Negev region are at the forefront of research addressing climate change in a range of sectors. Building on existing technological and policy research and leveraging growing private sector activity, Israeli DeserTech is promoting sustainable agriculture, energy, water, and infrastructure while addressing desertification challenges as part of its core business.

The DeserTech startup ecosystem includes dozens of basic and applied research institutions and many incubators and accelerators established in recent years. In addition, the ‘Innovation District’ is currently being developed in Be’er Sheva to connect academia, advanced industry, research hospitals, and more. These developments will accelerate the development and commercialization of desert technologies and transform the Negev into an international hub to combat desertification.

4 Global Challenges and How DeserTech Can Help

1. Extreme weather events

Dust storms, droughts, heat waves, and flash floods are all intensifying environmental threats for desert inhabitants. As desertification increases, agricultural productivity, and income decrease. According to the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, extreme weather events have the highest potential to increase poverty over the coming decades in dryland areas, urgently necessitating innovative solutions to ensure food security and alleviate poverty.

Heat and dust-resilient renewable energy sources, green desert construction, adapted agricultural crops, sustainable land management practices, and prediction systems for extreme weather events are just a few of the solutions needed.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:

2. Water Scarcity

Prolonged droughts and soil degradation will continue to aggravate existing water scarcities rendering life in the desert even more difficult for its inhabitants. Climate change will exacerbate water shortages, negatively impacting regional agricultural systems. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience “absolute water stress,” threatening water security worldwide, especially in arid regions.

Desalination-solar hybrid system treatment, reuse, and treatment of wastewater, water-saving precision irrigation, generation of water from air humidity, and advanced systems for drought forecasting are just a few of the solutions needed.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:

3. Remote and Marginal Living

The lack of food and water security, reliable clean energy, and access to basic healthcare all test the survival of communities living in remote arid environments. The desperation of people living in these drylands is likely to drive them to emigrate leading to additional challenges for the global community. As desertification expands, marginal communities in arid regions will only be able to thrive with the use of new technologies. As of 2019, more than 785 million people in the world did not have access to basic water services.

Off-grid water and sanitation services, non-wire clean energy sources, and innovative self-sustaining food production technologies are just a few of the technologies needed.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:

4. Land Degradation

Land degradation is primarily the result of human-related activities and climate variations. When land degradation occurs in drylands it is considered desertification. Unsustainable land management practices and increased pressure on the land to produce combine to drive degradation. Every year, 75 billion tons of fertile soil is lost to land degradation, thus increasing soil vulnerability to water and wind erosion, salination, and flash floods.

Land management techniques using runoff water, soil restoration, agro-voltaic systems, and smart irrigation are just a few of the solutions needed to achieve land degradation neutrality.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:

Israel DeserTech Landscape Map

In terms of technologies designed to adapt to desertifying environments, Israel is no stranger to the problem as it had faced these challenges since its establishment with its settlements in arid and semi-arid zones which required appropriate solutions. Solutions that focus mainly on water, agriculture, and energy have formed the basis for the establishment of technology startups that operate in these fields.

Start-Up Nation Central, in partnership with DeserTech Community, mapped the Israeli startup ecosystem to deliver a comprehensive overview of companies developing relevant DeserTech-related technologies. Originally published in summer of 2022, this initiative provides insight and access to an industry with the potential to improve the lives of millions.

Partners for Progress

DeserTech is an Innovation Community that promotes the development, adaptation and
commercialization of technologies that enable sustainable living in arid climates, while
simultaneously, turning Be’er Sheva and the Negev region into a global entrepreneurial hub
for these technologies.

Start-Up Nation Central is a non-profit organization that connects Israeli innovation to the world to help international entities solve global challenges. Focusing on the Israeli technology ecosystem, we provide a platform that nurtures business growth and generates partnerships with key countries, multinational companies, and organizations to strengthen Israel’s economy and society.

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Still, you might not want to drink from it – and this is where Desalitech, a water purification company with offices in Israel and Boston, comes in. Last October, the company partnered with Boston’s HUBweek festival to purify water from the Charles using their patented Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology. The water was then used by a handful of local breweries to develop uniquely local beers as part of the “Brew the Charles” contest, that by all accounts was a smashing success.

This was just the most public outing for a company that is considered a rising star in the water purification industry – based on industry reviews, accolades, and company sales. In 2016, Desalitech won the prestigious Breakthrough Water Technology Company of the Year Award from Global Water Intelligence, the number one water industry publication. Among their clients are global leaders and Fortune 500 corporations like Coca-Cola, Kimberly Clark, Proctor & Gamble, and Archer-Daniels-Midland.

Beyond the ‘Beer Test.’

Despite making a name for itself in Boston, Desalitech has roots in Israel, where the technology was developed and first demonstrated.

The company’s success is thanks to their revolutionary water purification first developed for the desalination of seawater, which is extremely energy-intensive. Led by CEO Nadav Efraty, the company has leveraged this technology to create remarkably efficient and effective water purification systems that can be used for everything from wastewater treatment to the preparation of ingredient-quality water.

“When people think about conserving water,” Efraty explains, “they do not think of all the water used for industry purpose. The need for clean water is huge, and there is only a limited supply.”

Desalitech’s technology is helping companies stretch these limited water supplies further. The core of the technology is its patented water treatment process, called Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO). According to Efraty, it is an improvement over traditional reverse osmosis, which has been an industry standard for decades. Even modern reverse osmosis systems are only able to recover about 75 percent of the water treated, and the treatment comes with drawbacks like expensive maintenance, and an inability to adapt to changing water supplies (saltwater, contaminated freshwater, mineral-rich groundwater, etc.). With CCRO, says Efraty, 96 percent or more of treated water is recovered, and maintenance costs are much lower. Also, the system can easily be adjusted on the fly to accommodate changing water supplies.

With CCRO tech, every drop counts

The crux of CCRO’s innovation is in its simple loop design. Traditional reverse osmosis relies on multiple purification “stages” arranged sequentially so that more water is recovered at each subsequent stage. Instead of multiple stages, CCRO recycles water through a single membrane stage until as much water as possible has been recovered. Then it simply discharges the concentrated waste and starts cycling a fresh batch of water. Desalitech’s systems can automatically adapt to meet virtually any industrial need on-the-fly – especially important for industrial waters users that need to recycle their water for reuse and use water from multiple feeds that would require constant tooling with reverse osmosis systems.

According to Efraty, Desalitech is bringing water purification into the 21^st century. It is a bold statement, but their customers seem to agree, among them Mark Carroll, a water resource engineer at Archer-Daniels-Midland — one of the world’s biggest food-processing companies — who called Desalitech “the first major change we have seen [in water purification] in decades.”

As Desalitech continues to win the trust of some of the biggest water users on the planet, Efraty said, the company sees each small victory as a step in leading the water industry to its ultimate hoped-for goal – more clean water for both industry and consumers everywhere.

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Israel has been successfully tackling water management challenges for decades, so much so that the country now boasts a water surplus despite low annual rainfall and significant population growth. How does Israel do it?  We interviewed Fredrik Liljedahl, CleanTech head at Start-Up Nation Central, to find out more about Israel’s secrets to success in water management.  Below is the interview transcript.

1- What is special about Israeli expertise? What is the competitive advantage?

While Israel spawns technological innovation in everything from filtration membranes to sensors, it is not a single technology but rather the strength of the whole water ecosystem and its ability to support innovation that sets Israel apart.

Given natural water resource constraints, Israel has been forced to put water management on the top of the agenda and coordinate its national efforts ever since its infancy. As a result, Israel has one central Water Authority, several prominent water research institutes and effective water policies that promote efficient water usage and stimulate innovation. Well aware of the public benefits of investments in water technologies, Israel supports innovation in the private sector through public-private partnerships. An example is the Israel Innovation Authority that offers conditional grants of up to 50% of approved R&D expenditures. Another is Israel’s NewTech program, which, among other activities, offers grants to support first commercial installations in water utilities.

With strong support from the public sector, the possibility to partner with municipal utilities or well-established water companies to run pilots, Israeli WaterTech start-ups are well-equipped to innovate at all stages of the water value chain.

2-What are the major challenges this sector is facing? 

As is the case for cleantech globally, financing is one of the biggest challenges for Israeli WaterTech start-ups. While funding for R&D and pilots is relatively accessible in Israel, securing the investments start-ups need to commercialize and achieve significant scale-up is a different story. VCs are more hesitant to invest in clean technologies, after earlier start-ups have failed to show the hoped-for financial returns. Given existing financing models and current market conditions that favor a shorter path to money generation, it is difficult for WaterTech to compete with other investment opportunities.

Another challenge is that of regulation and water policy, an issue in which most countries are lagging behind Israel. All around the world, even in developed countries like the United States, water is not properly priced, or not priced at all. Despite a growing global water crisis that inevitably affects everyone—UN estimates that only 60 percent of global water demand will be met in 2030—the people and organizations that use water rarely carry the costs of their water consumption, making it difficult to sell them water-saving technologies. Only when faced with an immediate crisis, such as the drought in California, the need for and opportunity of WaterTech solutions is realized.

3-What unique technologies or companies come from Israel?

A field that Israel really dominates is that of wastewater treatment and reuse. Israel treats 95% of its sewage, and 80% of treated wastewater is available for agriculture. Even though the purpose is the same, the actual technologies used to treat wastewater vary and include everything from algal-based systems to polyethylene biofilm carriers.

We are also witnessing a surge in IoT and other data-driven technologies in the WaterTech sector, fueled by positive spillover effects from Israeli prowess in advanced information technology. Start-ups are making use of existing technologies, like sensors and data management software, and applying them in innovative ways to create unique WaterTech solutions, for example in the areas of water network security and smart cities.

However, it is impossible to talk about WaterTech without mentioning the single biggest water technology to have come out of Israel: drip-irrigation, a form of irrigation that allows water to drip directly to the root. Despite having been around since the 60s and despite the significant water savings and increase in yields resulting from its use, it has achieved limited traction outside of Israel, mainly because of the worldwide failure to price water according to its real cost and value. In Israel, where water is properly priced, 75% of crops are drip irrigated, compared to the global average of 5%.

4-How do you predict the sector will develop and where will it lead to in twenty years?

In the coming years, established system integrators will lead the way in foreign markets like India and sub-Saharan Africa. Their expertise and experience in managing large-scale, turnkey water and energy projects will help younger start-ups get a foot in the door. Individual water technologies, like smart meter readers and data management software, will be integrated and offered as part of wider solutions.

With the effects of the global water crisis becoming increasingly evident, we will also see new project and start-up financing models to support the need for rapid development and expansion of water innovation. Israel NewTech will continue to work closely with its local ecosystem, and go abroad to export the Israeli water model, including the Israeli approach to water policy and public-private partnerships, thereby facilitating the development of more favorable international market conditions for growing Israeli start-ups.

Twenty years from now, Israel will be known internationally as the go-to place for WaterTech innovation and holistic water management practices, attracting companies, investors and governments alike. Many Israeli start-ups will have made the leap to becoming multinational corporations, while maintaining a strong R&D presence in Israel and utilizing the country as a development site and testing ground for new water technologies.
When it comes to water management, Israel’s approach can be emulated throughout the world. Its wastewater treatment, desalination, and drip irrigation systems, as well as its insistence on water pricing, all exemplify reasons why Israel is poised to become a model for water usage and innovative WaterTech, globally.

To find out more about how Israeli innovations are impacting WaterTech, check out this infographic.

The post Making the Desert Bloom: Israeli Startups and the Water Crisis appeared first on Startup Nation Central.

See the infographic below to learn more about the industry potential and key Israeli players in the water technology field (click to enlarge):

Read here to learn more about how Israeli start-ups are impacting WaterTech.

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