Approximately five million South African residents do not have access to clean and safe drinking water. This situation is compounded by the increasing number of climate change-induced droughts, threatening the lives of rural communities.

Wits Business School and its Master of Management in Innovation Studies Programme are pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on this critical clean water challenge and its possible solutions.

Our main speaker is Professor James Smith from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia, USA and member of the Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) programme. He and the panel will discuss:

• Nanotechnology-based water treatment solutions, such as MadiDrop: how effective are they? What has the experience been so far in South Africa?

• What business models and diffusion processes can accompany technological innovation in order to better meet the demand for clean water at the appropriate scale and speed?

Our panellists include: Professor Thembela Hillie, Principal Research Scientist at the National Centre for Nano-structured Materials (NCNSM) at the CSIR and Associate Professor of Physics at the University of the Free State and Dr Rethabile Melamu, General Manager for the Green Economy Unit, The Innovation Hub (the innovation agency of the Gauteng Province).

Dr Diran Soumonni, Senior Lecturer in Innovation Management and Policy at Wits Business School, will facilitate the discussion. Click here for speaker bios

Booking is essential.

We look forward to hosting you!