Editorial: Full-scale investigations in water and wastewater treatment

Through a series of engagements with strategic players in the global water community, the International Water Association identified an innovation gap in the water sector, specifically relating to the scale-up and implementation of newly developed water treatment technologies. The gap exists between laboratory scale research and small-scale piloting of technologies, and the end point of full-scale operation, whereby new technologies are adopted by the market. This creates a situation where, at times, the sector is forced to import market ready solutions from other sectors, such as oil and gas, because of this innovation gap in our own sector. As such, the issue of water technology scale-up, implementation, and commercialisation was identified as a key area of concern.

This concern is expressed in a diversity of ways in international innovation literature. The public literature tends to focus on the issues of commercialisation gaps and challenges. Rice et...