AquAffirm won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition for their portable and cheap sensor which detects arsenic in water, the most significant chemical contaminant in drinking water globally.

The groundbreaking device has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world.

On any given day, 140 million people in 70 countries are drinking water that is contaminated with arsenic at levels above the World Health Organization safety threshold.

The London based company has gone from strength to strength and here CEO David Sarphie outlines what it meant to win the prestigious competition.  

What was your business idea?

Traditional methods for testing and monitoring water contamination – which impacts on the health of millions of people around the world – are analogue, slow and difficult to interpret, using a basic colour metric system.

AquAffirm is developing the first digital sensors that have been designed to measure serious water contaminants like arsenic and fluoride. Its rapid, web-connected test, which uses affordable purpose-designed test strips, will transform the way arsenic mitigation programmes will run in the future. Beyond the sensor technology, the underpinning digital platform collects the data to be uploaded, analysed and mapped in real time, with the easily interpretable results available within three minutes.

How has business progressed since winning the competition?

Since winning in 2018, the business has conducted a significant amount of research and development. Substantial progress was made in the summer of 2019 in particular, with the team heading to Bangladesh to conduct early testing with the initial prototype. The business has also won a grant from Innovate UK to take the technology forward and fully launch in 2021 (having had its planned 2020 launch postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic), and has had very positive interaction with potential customers, generating encouraging feedback from major organisations in the field.

What are AquAffirm’s plans for the future?

In the short term, AquAffirm is currently raising investment to enable it to launch its working solution as part of an imminent arsenic mitigation programme currently planned for roll-out in Bangladesh with UNICEF and Water Aid.

Longer term, AquAffirm believes its current solution is simply the start for building a business that has the capability to create sensors for a range of different contaminants that impact people’s health. The business will also be looking at taking the technologies beyond the developing world and into more advanced markets, including the United States and parts of Europe, which still suffer from naturally-occurring and fracking-related arsenic problems.

What was your favourite part of taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?

The competition is an excellent way to get a view from both external experts in chemistry and business on the proposition of your technology. You also get to see the kinds of issues other people are solving and how they are presenting them to these experts, so it’s a terrific learning exercise. The publicity and networking opportunities that have arisen from being involved have also proved to be invaluable to our progress.

What advice does AquAffirm have for future Emerging Technologies Competition finalists?

Try to enjoy the experience. Get as much out of it as you can – it’s a learning experience, so take as much as possible from the judges and the other participants.

For more information about the event go to www.rsc.org/competitions/emerging-technologies/