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If you have an idea that you believe can have a positive impact on stormwater design for water management and/or water quality, we should talk.
Our team of stormwater innovation specialists are working with involved innovators in stormwater design around the world to develop next generation, market driven solutions to national, regional and local stormwater problems.
Our innovators may come from university research organizations, consulting engineering firms, small businesses or almost anywhere smart people are generating new ideas.
Convergent can assist innovators with:
- Distribution
- Manufacturing
- Marketability
- Patent protection
- Product refinement
- Regionalization
- Regulatory approvals
- Technology verification
If you are a stormwater innovator; if you have an product or product idea that you believe can help solve our water management and water quality problems, let us know.
How We Bring
Innovation To The Market
What happens when an innovator at a school/garage/think tank comes up with an innovative idea for stormwater management, but they have no idea how to bring it to market. They contact Convergent, because we can…
Do You Have an Innovative Product or Idea?
The stormwater management industry is largely utilizing methods and technologies that are outdated and suboptimal, even though protecting the quality of our future water supplies becomes more critical every day. We are experiencing stronger and more frequent storms for which existing stormwater systems were not originally designed to tackle. Exacerbating the problems, most of our existing systems are expensive and difficult to maintain. The stormwater industry desperately needs new ideas, products and technologies to replace or work together with existing stormwater infrastructure. We need robust, affordable new systems that are environmentally sustainable and can be maintained inexpensively and with greater ease.
Stormwater innovation can come about in many ways, shapes and sizes. Take the smartPOND™ for instance. smartPOND™ was originally developed by a father and son team, farmers in Mississippi, to control the flow of water around their farmland. Equipped with a bucket, solar panel and wireless control box allowing them to manage it remotely via a phone app, smartPOND™ could hold water in one area of their farm until they were ready to lower the bucket and let the water drain into the next area of their farm. Having stumbled upon the piece of equipment at an agricultural show, the Convergent team quickly saw how this farming innovation could be repurposed for stormwater management. smartPOND™ is now distributed nationally to the stormwater industry exclusively through the Convergent VAR Network.
Other stormwater innovation has come from more direct means of seeing a need and then creating a specific solution for it. The Energy-Passive Groundwater Recharge (EPRP) system is one such innovation. Its inventor was studying water related diseases in third world countries and noted that many of the diseases were caused by standing water. By creating a product that leverages the natural, continuous shifting of soil beneath our feet, the EGRP dramatically improves infiltration rates of Type B and C soils, in some instances as much as 800%. While this innovation will no doubt save lives in the circumstances for which it was originally conceived, it also has proved to be an important tool for reducing stormwater runoff.
Innovation often starts with just an idea. If you have an idea that you believe can have a positive impact on stormwater design for water management and/or water quality, we should talk.