Israeli Startups Bringing Clean Water Solutions To Rural Africa

By NoCamels Team May 22, 2023 2 minutes

Courtesy Innovation: Africa

Three Israeli startups will provide rural African communities with clean and safe drinking water, as winners of a new national competition.

The aim was to find Israeli technologies that can help monitor, disinfect, treat, and desalinate water pumped throughout remote villages.

The winners of the competition are EZMems, creator of a low-cost and battery-less chip that provides easy digitization, NanoClear, which sanitizes water using tiny particles, and SoLED, which disinfects water using UV light.

The competition was founded by the Israeli nonprofits Innovation: Africa, which brings national innovations to rural African villages, and DeserTech, which commercializes renewable energy in arid climates.

Courtesy Lior Sperandeo / Innovation: Africa

“We were not highly optimistic about this process at the beginning, as we thought we already knew the Israeli ecosystem,” said Reut Yahav-Spitzer, water quality expert at Innovation: Africa.

“Yet, after this long and deep professional process, we were surprised to find some promising technologies that can be implemented in our sites.

“Israel’s water ecosystem has much to offer, and DeserTech helped us work closely with diverse entrepreneurs to build fruitful collaborations.”

The winning startups will work closely with Innovation: Africa to refine their solutions in the field. All three companies expressed their delight at the opportunity to put their technology to work.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to make a positive impact in rural Africa with our Made In Israel sensors,” said Tsvi Shmilovich, Co-Founder & CEO at EZMemz.

“We could not be more excited to contribute to the incredible work Innovation: Africa does to break the cycle of poverty in rural Africa with safe and reliable drinking water,” said Eli Bergman, CTO at NanoClear Water Solutions.

Professor Hadas Mamane, a scientist at SoLED, said: “We are passionate about harnessing light to disinfect water with SoLED technology. We are especially excited to take this journey with Innovation: Africa in paving the way to chemical-free and safer water.”