Danish water tech companies increasing their exports but fighting for market share

High-profile Danish water management projects bring attention to innovative industry

Sep 14, 2015

While Danish water technology companies are leading the field in innovation and their exports are increasing, the industry is losing market share to competitors in other European countries, the engineering publication Ingeniøren reports.

The Danish filter company Aquaporin is responsible for the technology that turns astronauts’ urine into drinking water and Sunstone Water Group is behind a project that gets drinking water out of bacteria-infected waste water in Texas. Companies like these and AVK, Grundfos, Danfoss, Cowi, Niras and DHI are responsible for Danish water technology exports increasing from 3.9 billion kroner in 2009 to 15.9 million kroner in 2014.

Despite the jump in sales, in the same period, Denmark has lost market share to other European competitors.

Dealing with global challenges
But Torkil Jønch Clausen – a political advisor at the water management company DHI, who is an advisor at the World Water Council – sees an increasing demand for clever water management solutions to deal with contemporary global challenges.

“Water isn’t just a sector in itself. How should food production, sustainable energy, poverty and the flow of refugees be dealt with without water?” he asked.

“So generally speaking the political decisions that need to be taken are very closely related to how we manage water resources. It’s not just a prophecy of doom because if we look, for example, at Singapore and some other places, where they have experienced shortages, they have used their intelligence to solve the problems.”

Kenth Hvid Nielsen, a vice president at the pump company Grundfos, is also optimistic about Danish companies playing a significant role in the global water management scene.

“If we can put the best technology we have together with the best other Danish companies we have, I’m sure we can make a difference,” he said.

“I can also see that from our customers who come to Denmark. They really want to see a world-class waterworks or waste water plant where all the best technologies are combined.”