Swiss Innovators

The Swiss wastewater sector is one of the best in the world, and yet it faces major challenges related to ageing infrastructure and climate change. Swiss innovations in the realm of decentralised and modular technologies could make an important contribution to our centralised wastewater infrastructures. However, until now, there is no Swiss industrial policy in place that proactively deals with these developments. Because of this, Switzerland runs the risk of missing out on the momentum produced by synergies, and potential conflicts between new innovators in the water sector might not be recognised. The Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research (STOWA) shows how this can work better.

Currently, technologies are being developed in Switzerland to clean and retain wastewater and recover resources on-site. In Geneva, housing cooperatives separate and treat urine and household wastewater on-site. In 2019, the Swiss company Laufen commercialised a toilet for separate recovery of nutrients from urine. Eawag and Empa are developing and testing decentralised wastewater treatment in the NEST building, and the cities of Bern and Fribourg are leaders in the development of neighbourhoods with decentralised wastewater treatment. Together with collaborators from Germany and France, the Zurich-based composting toilet manufacturer Kompotoi wants to herald a sanitation turnaround and close resource loops by using nutrients from the faeces and urine of public composting toilets as fertilizer in agriculture.

The "harmony fallacy"

However, it is far from clear that the above-mentioned initiatives will all work in harmony and cross-fertilize each other. As our recent research at ESS shows, this "harmony fallacy" manifests itself in the innovators’ diverse and partly contrary values and visions about the future development of the sector. In this context, an altruistic, ecologically oriented set of values collides with a strong belief in technology engineering on the one hand and the free market on the other. For example, while ecologists and grassroots innovators tend to favour low-tech solutions, technology- and market driven actors, such as the global philanthropy donor BMGF, research institutes like Eawag, or multinational consultants like Helbling, tend to champion high-tech. Also, ecologists and market proponents tend to collaborate with actors sharing similar values, while engineers more frequently collaborate across value boundaries. The result is a rather insular innovation scene.

Ways forward

A steering Swiss industrial and innovation policy could mediate between actors with different values and interests, create shielding niches for the demonstration of various technological options, and foster synergies between the diverse actors. One approach would be to establish an organisation dedicated to coordinating and promoting innovation projects in the water sector. The Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research (STOWA), for example, has fulfilled this role on behalf of the Dutch Water Authorities since 1971 and has contributed to a strong consolidation and strengthening of Dutch innovation activities – most recently in the field of decentralised wastewater technologies.