抗击500年来最严重的干旱，看美国加州如何用新技术节水

    “我们试图提供一条市场化道路”

    约翰•布里斯克是哈佛大学（Harvard University）环境工程和环境健康领域的教授，也是哈佛水安全动议（Harvard Water Security Initiative）项目的主任。他说，如果要有效地应对旱灾，那么“我们必须做好两方面的工作。”

    布里斯克解释说，“首先要有基础设施。其次要有相应的机制。”也就是要有能够对水资源有效管理实施监管的法规和机构。

    布里斯克说，与金融投资一样，拥有多元化的水资源“资产组合”很重要。水量充足的时候可以使用廉价的水源；较为昂贵的水源则可以在困难时期维系一个地区的用水。

    布里斯克将成功治理旱情的澳大利亚作为例证。该国推出了一个全新的水资源期货交易所。他说：“他们拥有一整套非常灵活的机制，能够充分体现水的利用价值。一旦水资源拥有这种价值之后，对于新技术的巨大需求就会显现出来。而这一机制的信息和技术密集度也会越来越高。”

    清洁水源领域非营利性机构Imagine H2O首席运营官斯科特•布莱恩表示，从全球来看，水资源市场每年的价值约为5千亿美元。布莱恩质问说，“既然生态、人类以及市场对于水资源的需求规模如此之大，为什么关注这一行业的企业家和投资商却没有多少？”即便是在加州，“关注这一区域最为紧迫问题的技术公司也是寥寥无几。”

    在过去的5年中，布莱恩的公司每年都会举办业务创新比赛。在比赛当中，早期创业家和研究人员可以提交其创意，随后，由风投资本家和其他专家组成的评审委员会对这些创意进行评审。之后，位列前12名的选手将进入公司的加速器项目。布莱恩说：“如今，比赛的获胜者和决胜选手所获得的投资占水务领域的早期融资总额的六分之一。”

    他解释道，“我们在试图提供一条市场化道路。我们有很多卓越的技术，只是它们没有被市场利用而已。为了接触那些能将新业务模式引入这一领域的人士，公司投入了很多的精力，而新业务模式与新技术的重要性几乎是不相上下的。”（财富中文网）

    译者：翔

    ‘We’re trying to offer a path to market’

    To make an impact in drought conditions, “there are two legs you have to walk on,” said John Briscoe, a professor of environmental engineering and environmental health at Harvard University and the director of the Harvard Water Security Initiative.

    “First, you have to have infrastructure,” Briscoe explains. “Second, you have to have institutions”—that is, rules and organizations to govern the effective management of water.

    As in financial investing, it is important to have a diverse “portfolio” of water sources, Briscoe says. Cheaper ones can be used when water is plentiful; more expensive ones can sustain an area during difficult conditions.

    Briscoe points to Australia, home of a new futures exchange focused on water, for its success dealing with drought. “They have a very flexible set of institutions with very clear signals about the value of water use,” he says. “Once water has this value, there’s a huge call for new technology. It becomes more information- and technology-intensive.”

    Globally, the water market is worth roughly half a trillion dollars per year, says Scott Bryan, chief operating officer at the clean water nonprofit Imagine H2O. “If you look at the magnitude of the ecological and humanitarian need plus the market need, why don’t we have more entrepreneurs and investors looking into this issue?” Bryan asks. Even in California itself, “very little of the tech boom focuses on our region’s most pressing issue,” he adds.

    For the last five years, Bryan’s firm has offered an annual business innovation competition through which early stage entrepreneurs and researchers can submit their ideas for judging by a panel of venture capitalists and other experts. It then gives the top 12 contenders a place in its accelerator program. “Our winners and finalists now represent one in every six dollars of early stage financing in the water sector,” Bryan says.

    “What we’re trying to offer is a path to market,” he explains. “We have a lot of great technology out there, it just doesn’t make it to market. A lot of our work is reaching out to people who can bring new business models to the sector—that’s almost more important than new technology.”