Focus Areas
Where We Work
The Institute's mandate spans four interconnected domains. Together, they form a comprehensive strategy for protecting the Great Lakes and building a thriving freshwater economy.
Focus Area One
Freshwater Stewardship
Protecting the basin for the next generation.
The Great Lakes hold 21% of the world's surface freshwater. Protecting that resource — and the ecosystems, communities, and economies that depend on it — is the foundational purpose of the Institute.
Freshwater stewardship means more than preventing pollution. It means building the governance frameworks, scientific knowledge, and cross-border cooperation needed to manage a shared resource at the scale it demands. The Great Lakes basin spans two nations, eight states and provinces, and dozens of Indigenous territories — effective stewardship requires all of them at the table.
The Institute convenes policy makers, scientists, Indigenous leaders, and community organizations to develop and advocate for evidence-based governance. We support research into ecosystem health, climate resilience, and the cumulative impacts of human activity on the basin. And we work to ensure that the voices of communities most dependent on — and most affected by — the health of the Great Lakes are heard in the decisions that shape it.
- Cross-border policy frameworks
- Ecosystem health monitoring
- Climate resilience planning
- Indigenous partnership and co-governance
Focus Area Two
Technology Commercialization
From laboratory to global market.
The Great Lakes region is home to world-class water research institutions, a deep talent pool, and a growing cluster of water technology companies. The Institute exists to accelerate the journey from innovation to commercial scale.
Water technology commercialization is notoriously difficult. The capital requirements are high, the sales cycles are long, and the regulatory environment is complex. Promising technologies developed in university labs or early-stage companies too often stall before they reach the customers who need them.
The Institute addresses this gap by connecting innovators with the resources they need to scale: patient capital, pilot project opportunities, regulatory navigation support, and access to a global network of potential customers and partners. We work with companies at every stage — from pre-seed startups to established firms seeking to enter new markets — and we measure our success by the technologies that reach commercial deployment.
- Early-stage investment facilitation
- Pilot project matchmaking
- Regulatory navigation support
- Global market access programs
Focus Area Three
Industrial Innovation
Transforming how industry uses and manages water.
Industry is both a major user of freshwater and a critical partner in protecting it. The Institute works with water-intensive sectors to reduce consumption, improve treatment, and develop next-generation solutions for industrial water management.
The Great Lakes basin is home to significant industrial activity — automotive, steel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and more. These industries depend on access to clean water, and their operations have a direct impact on water quality and availability. Transforming industrial water use is not just an environmental imperative; it is an economic one.
The Institute partners with industry to identify and deploy technologies that reduce water intensity, improve treatment of industrial effluent, and recover valuable resources from wastewater streams. We facilitate pre-competitive collaboration between companies facing shared water challenges, and we connect industrial partners with the research institutions and technology providers best positioned to help them.
- Water intensity reduction programs
- Industrial effluent treatment
- Resource recovery from wastewater
- Pre-competitive industry collaboration
Focus Area Four
Economic Development
Building the freshwater economy of the future.
The Great Lakes region has the assets to become the global hub for freshwater innovation — world-class research, abundant water resources, strong industrial capacity, and a skilled workforce. The Institute is building the ecosystem to make that happen.
Economic development in the freshwater sector means more than attracting investment. It means building the talent pipelines, the physical infrastructure, the regulatory environment, and the collaborative networks that allow a sector to grow and sustain itself over time. The Institute works across all of these dimensions.
We work with economic development agencies, post-secondary institutions, and industry associations to build the conditions for a thriving freshwater economy. We attract and support water technology companies looking to establish or expand in the region. We advocate for the public investments — in research, infrastructure, and workforce development — that the sector needs to reach its potential. And we tell the story of the Great Lakes as a place where the world's most important water challenges are being solved.
- Investment attraction and retention
- Workforce and talent development
- Cluster-building and sector strategy
- Regional brand and positioning
Ready to Work With Us?
Whether you are a technology company, a researcher, a funder, or a policy leader — there is a role for you in this work.