About us
Mississippi River with Minneapolis skyline in the background.

Accelerating next-generation water systems and scalable, cost-effective approaches to water.

Why companies join...

The Opportunity

Water is rapidly becoming a defining constraint for industrial growth, infrastructure expansion, and long-term resilience. 

It underpins 60% of global economic activity, yet increasing scarcity, regulatory pressure, and system complexity are exposing critical gaps in how water is managed.

At the same time, emerging sectors – including data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, energy, food and beverage production, and agriculture – are intensifying demand for both water quantity and water quality management.

The next generation of water solutions will not come from incremental change. They will emerge from the convergence of AI, advanced engineering, real-time data, and collaborative innovation. They will require:

  • Intelligent, adaptive water systems
  • Integrated reuse and resource recovery strategies
  • Real-time optimization of water quantity, quality, and operational performance
  • Collaboration across industry, academia, utilities, and public-interest partners to accelerate scalable innovation

What We Are Building

The Water Circularity Center is a pre-competitive, industry–academic partnership designed to accelerate the development of scalable, cost-effective water solutions for water-intensive industries. 

It is built on this premise:

Organizations that engage early — co-creating and helping drive innovation — will shape the solutions that define the future of water.

This is not just access to research. It is participation in creating it.

Why The University of Minnesota

Global Patent Leader

16th in the world

for universities granted U.S. patents since 2021.

Commercialization Success

300+ companies

2400+ active patents,

3600+ licenses since 2006.

Interdisciplinary Research Excellence

Ranked 6th globally for interdisciplinary research.

Notable Innovations

  • Apple varieties
  • Pacemaker
  • TALENs Gene Editing,
  • Zero Rare Earth Magnets
  • Computational Random-Access Memory (CRAM)

How the Consortium Operates

A structured, partner-driven model designed to accelerate collaborative water innovation

 

infinity symbol in water


The Water Circularity Center operates through a transparent, repeatable process that connects real-world challenges with high-impact research, technical innovation, and cross-sector collaboration, consistent with the Center's Governance Framework and Membership Agreement.

  • WCC Governance (coming soon) 
  • WCC Membership Agreement (coming soon)

 

Platform for Long-Term Collaboration