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NOLAVibe partner Steve Picou will present "Building Louisiana's Water Cluster" during a special session titled "Water Clusters From Milwaukee to NOLA" at 10am on Tuesday, September 30 in the Stormwater Pavilion Theater located on the expo show floor of the Morial Convention Center. Expo admission is free but registration is required. The presentation is based on Picou's recently published thesis "Louisiana's Water Innovation Cluster: Is it ready for global competition." The work examines Louisiana's increasingly important water sectors within the context of the rise of water technology innovation clusters, and looks at two strong clusters: WaterTAP Ontario and the Milwaukee Water Council, in a comparative analysis with where Louisiana stands. The thesis includes recommendations and specific steps to build Louisiana's water cluster as key to sustaining a more resilient economy and environment. The session includes the Milwaukee Water Council, represented by Elizabeth Thelen who will describe the progress and plans as they continue to build a world class water center for business development, education and research, including an overview of their entrepreneurial competition and accelerator programming. WEFTEC features an array of Louisiana-centric programming (see below) as part of their overall mission to have a lasting impact on the region. Water's Worth it! Louisiana: We Can do This! Tell a friend.
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Water's Worth It! NOLAVibe is excited to be working with planners from the Water Environment Federation on WEFTEC 2014 in New Orleans this coming week. An estimated 20,000+ attendees will be participating in what is billed as the "largest conference of its kind" focused on water quality engineering, products, services, policy and innovation. The conference makes a wide range of events and presentations, including access to the expo (which nearly fills the entire Morial Convention Center), available to nonmembers for free (with registration). The Opening General Sessions (which do not require a badge for admission) on Monday morning (Sept 29) give attendees a chance to hear from international leaders including innovation strategist Luke Williams, and a Great Water Cities panel introduced by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and featuring representatives of France, New Zealand and the United States. WEFTEC rotates annually between Chicago and New Orleans, and will be in the Crescent City again in 2016 and 2018. NOLAVibe is participating in a variety of programming throughout the conference, and we'll be posting more information over the next several days regarding this powerful opportunity to participate in one of the world's most important water gatherings. In the meantime, check out this short video featuring Joe Becker of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board talking about WEFTEC and welcoming the world to New Orleans. The Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative released a short video shot in New Orleans in April. The clip features Mayor Landrieu and other regional leaders expressing their thoughts on resilience, and some of the challenges faced by the city. Also featured in the video is Horizon Initiative Water Committee Co-chair, and NOLAVibe President, Grasshopper Mendoza. The 100 Resilient Cities program is building a global network of connected cities sharing lessons and ideas "to build resilience to the social, economic, and physical challenges that cities face in an increasingly urbanized world." New Orleans is among the first 33 cities selected to participate in the program, and the Rockefeller Foundation is providing support for the hiring of a Chief Resilience Officer in the administration of Mayor Landrieu. Applications are now open for the next 33 cities, with a deadline of September 10.  (New Orleans LA) -- NOLAVibe partners Grasshopper Mendoza and Steve Picou will apply the "entrepreneurial lens" to the pressing issue of climate change in a special roundtable discussion on Thursday, August 21 from 1 to 3 pm at Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation, 4035 Washington Ave 70125.
Roundtable participants include: Andrea Chen of Propeller, Tim Williamson of The Idea Village, Kali Rapp of Building Resilience Workshop, Ed Shedlock of The Entrepreneurship Center at Nunez Community College, Bill & Chris Haines of the Meraux Foundation, and Aron Chang of Waggonner & Ball Architects. The event, held as part of the EPA initiative "Act on Climate," is free and open to the public. |
