Blog | Innovate BC

2018 Ignite Award recipient Acuva Technologies: Where are they now?

Written by Innovate BC | January 4, 2019

Do you have an innovation project in the areas of natural resources, applied sciences, or engineering? Did you know you can receive up to $300,000 in funding through Innovate BC’s Ignite Program? Keep reading to see how Acuva Technologies has successfully commercialized their innovation with the help of our Ignite funding.

Last year Acuva, in partnership with the University of British Columbia (UBC), was awarded $300,000 in Ignite funding for their UV-LED water purification project. Focusing on a range of point of use purification applications, this project is not only innovative but has the potential to eliminate one of the biggest challenges the world faces today: access to clean drinking water. Ground-breaking research was and continues to be conducted by UBC’s Chemistry and Biological Engineering Department, led by Professor Fariborz Taghipour, on designing reactors that emit UV radiation to eliminate bacterial contaminants in water.

Acuva Technologies was created based on the research coming out of UBC, says President and CEO, Manoj Singh. Together, they have developed and commercialized high precision purifiers that require no maintenance and little power, making clean water accessible all over the world, even in developing nations.

With the help of the Ignite program, Acuva Technologies is now the leader in this sector, their “Eco 1.5” being the first and only UV-LED drinking water purifier in the world to receive NSF/ANSI 55 Class B Certification. Since being awarded the Ignite funding in March 2018, Acuva Technologies is empowering customers globally to produce safe drinking water and selling their purifiers on their website. They also recently received a $2.1M investment from the Government of Canada’s Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative for further their growth and global expansion.

If your company is interested in applying for the next round of Ignite funding, submit your Letter of Intent before January 28th, 2019.