Three to watch: Spinouts from Aarhus Vand
Aarhus Vand recently shared the news of a collaboration with EnviDan, named Sulfinizer, the third spinout from Aarhus Vand within a few years.
Keep reading to get a deep dive into the three spinouts from Aarhus Vand, Sulfinizer, Zediment, and Dryp, and hear CIO of Aarhus Vand, Karsten Lumbye Jensen, elaborate on the news and their utility venture strategy.
Sulfinizer
Sulfinizer is the spinout result from a joint venture between Aarhus Vand and EnviDan. A collaboration formed to develop a sustainable solution for hydrogen sulfide build-up in the sewer system.
Besides being a smelly bother for the neighbours, over time, hydrogen sulfide also eats through cement and ruins the sewer systems. It’s a problem caused by climate change: as it rains more, the water companies now have to separate rainwater from wastewater. Therefore, the rainwater no longer dilutes the wastewater, which gives a lower flow in the sewer system and allows hydrogen sulfide to build up.
Sulfinizer addresses the problem and solves it in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. Their filters made of seashells – which consists mainly of calcium – neutralizes the hydrogen sulfide. A solution without the use of chemicals – the otherwise known answer.
A new utility venture strategy
Sulfinizer is the latest spinout from Aarhus Vand together with EnviDan. Karsten Lumbye Jensen, CIO of Aarhus Vand, explains, why it is an advantage to spin-out companies. First and foremost, Aarhus Vand has a monopoly on water in Aarhus. They are therefore tightly regulated, which limits their possibilities of spending money on innovation.
One way Aarhus Vand can keep developing and innovating is by spinning out independent companies, which they can own up to 40 pct of. And this strategy isn’t just profitable for Aarhus Vand. The innovative solutions can be applied to a wide range of fields and all over the world.
Karsten Lumbye Jensen explains, that it makes more sense to create a company existing of people with a lot of knowledge on a specific area instead of creating a new department within Aarhus Vand itself.
“Aarhus Vand is good with anything water-related. Other people are good at technology for example,” says Karsten Lumbye Jensen.
In comes Zediment – an example of a spinout brought to life as a collaboration of skills.
Zediment
In order to figure out what was laying on the bottom of their giant wastewater pools, Aarhus Vand linked up with the engineering company, EIVA. EIVA developed an advanced technology for measuring the water basins based on drones and scans above and below water level. Meanwhile, Aarhus Vand – as a leading water company with experience in incorporating innovative solutions – contributed with their industry expertise.
Launched in 2021, Zediment has with their solution already helped optimize a number of businesses through comparable and traceable data.
Dryp
Dryp is a spinout born out of Innovation Fund’s DONUT project founded by Aarhus Vand, MONTEM A/S, and InforMetics. A project created to develop a unified solution for the water sector’s challenges regarding lack of knowledge about the water cycle.
Dryp’s solution is based on hydrology and data science and gives water companies a basis for smart water management. With automated IoT sensors they provide an overview of the companies’ entire water cycle. This allows them to optimize capacity and eliminate resources spent on maintenance.
