IP Group splashes out on Modern Water company

Subsidiary launched

The technology commercialisation company IP Group plc has launched a new subsidiary to exploit a portfolio of technologies related to fresh water supplies and wastewater treatment. Modern Water Ltd begins life with £2.2 million cash from IP Group and its management team, of which £1 million has been committed to three water-related technologies. IP Group has a 67.7 per cent stake in the new company.

Modern Water is headed by Executive Chairman Neil McDougall and CEO Simon Humphrey, both veterans of the industry

The technologies the company is backing include a new desalination process, a technology for continuously monitoring acute water toxicity and a patented process for flushing toilets with seawater rather than freshwater. Modern Water is actively seeking further technologies.

Modern Water has taken a 30 per cent stake in Surrey Aqua Technologies Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Surrey, which has developed a reverse osmosis process to purify salt water that uses less energy than existing techniques. It is based on technology developed at the Centre for Osmosis Research and Applications at the university. Surrey Aqua Technologies is currently in negotiations to licence its technology.

Modern Water has a second, 16.6 per cent stake, in Cytomox Ltd, a Cardiff-based business which has a system for monitoring acute water toxicity on a continuous, real time basis, and warning of any suspicious changes. The core technology, based on bioluminescence, has the sensitivity to detect one-thousandth of a lethal dose of cyanide in water in just three seconds, compared with currently available products that detect in 15 to120 minutes.

Target markets include drinks and food manufacturers and water treatment and supply companies.

Modern Water also has taken a 51 per cent stake in Poseidon Water Ltd, which has developed a process to enable toilets to be flushed with seawater rather than freshwater. Around 30 per cent of water is used for flushing toilets. The Poseidon Sea Water Cycle is a viable alternative given that more than 70 per cent of the world’s population lives within 50 kilometres of the sea.

McDougall said Modern Water represents an opportunity to develop and commercialise technology for the water sector. “[This is] an area that has remained under-developed until now.”