Policy & Strategy Consulting

We are regularly engaged to provide advisory and consulting services as Biotechnology Solution and Renewable Water experts in the context of broader water sector policy and strategy assignments.

The Global Water Crisis is accelerating the deterioration of water quality. The causative factors are compounding through feedback and with increasing frequency and severity, tipping points are being reached that Government bodies are not prepared for or able to deal with. The catastrophic culmination of years of progressive degradation of water resources in Florida in 2018 are an example.

Those responsible for policy, legislation, water resource management and infrastructure are being confronted with phenomena whose behavior is governed by systems theory which is a poorly understood paradigm. This further confounds initiatives to develop effective Integrated Water Resource Management strategies in response to the Global Water Crisis.

There are two areas of technology innovation and development that have relevance to the future of water resource management:

Information Technology

The Internet of Things is providing real time monitoring of environmental and water quality conditions. However, the nature of this information is generally “you have a problem, you still have a problem, the problem just got worse”. As Artificial Intelligence is brought into the mix we can expect forecasting of future conditions to be incorporated into the mix. The nature of this information is likely to be a prediction that “your problem is going to get even worse”. However, this information makes little contribution to informing what actions can be taken to avert the impending crises.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology emanates from the Systems Theory paradigm. The Biotechnology Solutions Platform enables interventions and solutions to be designed and configured for rapid deployment and impact. This significantly lifts the time and cost constraints typical of conventional infrastructure-based solutions (which often act through the Law of Unintended Consequences to worsen the problems anyway).

The speed of deployment and impact of Biotechnology Solutions mean that as IoT and AI technology provide more information, interventions and remedial strategies can be developed and implemented in response.

Effective IWRM requires recalibration and redefinition of the strategic principles and themes that underpin it, and incorporating Biotechnology as a solution platform for water quality management is critical to successful adoption of IWRM for Renewable Water.

Because of the pervasive relevance of water resource management, effective IRWM strategy for Renewable Water impacts policy and strategy in sectors as diverse as public health, agriculture and food security, economic development, tourism and much more.

We can assist in articulating how a pathway to Renewable Water can be architected and the role and value of Biotechnology in such an IWRM strategy.