Norfolk Network events

Watr was an idea born out of a sudden and critical situation.

Glyn’s friend, the owner of a fishing lake, one day found all his fish gasping for oxygen and most of them died. He was forced to close the business for several weeks until the problem was sorted out. There must be an easier way thought Glyn, to detect a problem in the first place, stop algae polluting the lake and causing the fish to suffocate.

The solution: the first water monitor of its kind that can display live data to the user within 1 minute of opening the box. The potential: to improve water conditions across the globe.

Where else to validate the idea but at the world’s biggest tech conference Web Summit. Glyn won Watr third place in the grand pitching competition, beating off 13,000 other business startup ideas. Next came a place on the BRINC accelerator programme, time spent in Hong Kong meeting investors and mentors and visits to Chinese factories. 50K investment soon followed to manufacture the first batch of units.

Today Watr is talking to UK water companies, piloting units with River Trusts and the UN and processing a 2m euros grant for water monitor technology.

Glyn shared his exciting story and future plans for sustainable growth.

Biography:

Norwich based Business Computing Graduate Glyn was hired by the award winning creative technology agency KNIT. He moved upwards quickly to lead the production and technology team. Using emerging technologies they delivered creative, digital and experiential campaigns and projects that bridged the digital and physical world. Clients included Coca-Cola, Nissan, GSK, BMW, Volvo, Kettle Chips, Vype and Asda.

When KNIT was acquired by world-leading experience design agency Foolproof, Glyn became head of technology working on IoT products, websites and apps to full RFID systems used to drive amplification over social media channels.