Dear Colleagues,
Following the successful WATEC 2007 event – attended by more than 19,000 visitors from 81 countries – I would like to invite you to participate in the Second International Conference and Exhibition – WATEC 2009.
The rapidly growing global population, the revolution in urbanization – together with economic and environmental dynamics – are posing tremendous challenges to governments, academia, industry and to potential investors.
An obvious example is the intense competition for water and energy resources, and the need to sustain access to those resources. Providing water and energy has become a pressing social, economic and political imperative. Historically, water and energy issues have been handled separately. But, in fact, they are highly interconnected. Finding meaningful solutions to these critical resource issues requires a broadly based collaborative and interdisciplinary approach.
Water energy nexus, as well as other topics such as water efficiency solutions, desalination, efficient irrigation, water purification and alternative energy solutions, will be discussed in the upcoming WATEC 2009 conference.
Israel, as an innovative source of water and environmental technologies, is the ideal venue for this important event. With limited natural resources, and generations of accumulated expertise, Israel has made a virtue of necessity and today is home to a surprisingly large number of cutting-edge water and environmental technologies.
Israel’s vibrant environmental technology sector is supported by innovative research and development carried out by leading academic institutions, technological incubators, and a dynamic private sector. Furthermore, national policies like the NEWTech program– Noval Efficient Water Technologies - adopted by the Government, have accelerated the development of new technologies in this realm.
Israel has already implemented dedicated technologies that enable the production of 25% of the country's water consumption. It is expected that Israel will be able to produce 40% of its water demand within 5 years.
At WATEC 2009, you will join key decision-makers shaping the debates on – and crafting the solutions for – the major issues facing the world's water and ecological systems. Bringing together Israeli and international business executives, political decision makers, and leading researchers, WATEC 2009 will also be a showcase for the most advanced environmental technologies from around the world.
I invite you to join your colleagues from around the world and participate in this valuable opportunity to learn about, and develop future solutions for, the environmental challenges that we all face. We look forward to seeing you at WATEC 2009. We are confident that you will benefit from the exciting range of topics dealt with and the dynamic scope of entrepreneurial and technological solutions that will be presented at this event.
Sincerely,
Booky Oren
Chairman, WATEC 2009