Foley & Larner found that this was a large decline from the previous year when more than 30 percent of patents were granted to individual inventors. The authors speculated this was due to the 2008 economic crash negatively affecting individual’s research resources beyond corporations . Corporate entities also hold the highest shares of patents in the most technologically sophisticated fields, where individuals are not likely to have access to the technology or resources needed for sustain research and development. In water, the two sub-fields of desalination and/or distillation, and reclamation and treatment, and groundwater have very few individual inventors . A cursory investigation identified over 50 research institutions focused on water, or a closely related field, based in the state of California. Some centers, such as UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Management are concerned with the environment more broadly, while others, such as the International Center for Water Technology are specifically focused on engineering technologies. In a literature review of academic studies, Salter and Martin, identified six primary benefits to publicly funded research: increasing the stock of useful knowledge, training graduates, creating new scientific instrumentation and methodologies, forming social networks, increasing the capacity for scientific and technological problem-solving, and creating new firms . In California, there is clear evidence for all six of these activities. For the purposes of this investigation, there are four in Southern California—two state funded public institutions and two private nonprofit centers—whose actions are important to the development of the water reuse industry: The University of California at Los Angeles ,grow bucket the University of California Irvine , California Institute of Technology , and the privately funded National Water Research Institute in Fountain Valley, CA.

California has a huge water industry and several colleges and universities directly and indirectly play roles in the water industry. However, these four are representative and they are at the forefront of the developing water reuse industry—each in their own way. CalTech is located in Pasadena, California and is one of the foremost science and engineering universities in the world. Although relatively small with only 2,300 students or so, CalTech punches well above its weight . In 2011, CalTech’s faculty was found to have the highest citation rate in the world according to QS world university rankings, a very impressive feat for any school but made even more impressive by the fact that the majority of these citations occur in the so-called “STEM”, science, technology, engineering, and math fields . CalTech also receives more invention disclosures per faculty member than any other university in the nation. In 2009, CalTech received research funding of $357 million in 2009. Today, the Institutes’s ongoing funding of active research is over $343 million according to the National Science Foundation, the highest of any educational institution in the United States . In short CalTech is a global science and engineering powerhouse. CalTech is also home of one of the world’s most highly regarded mechanical and civil engineering programs. It has numerous research centers dedicated to sciences closely related to water technologies such as chemistry, biology, geology, environmental sciences, etc. but also a significant number of applied sciences that are crucial for to development of innovation, including mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, molecular engineering, etc. Although this investigation doesn’t attempt to explain a possible agglomeration of civil engineering firms in Pasadena, California, it is unlikely an accident that global engineering giants Jacobs engineering andTetra Tech both have their global headquarters located there. The even larger firm AECOM is based in nearby Los Angeles. As the dominant research institution in Southern California, UCLA is very influential in water issues.

Not only do graduates of UCLA Law School and the Luskin School of Public Administration go on to have important voices in the the water policy debate, but the school also has several water specific centers, such as The Institute of the Environment, the Water Technology Research Center, and the Luskin Center of Innovation that are actively involved in the creation of a water reuse technology cluster. In 2007, the philanthropist couple, Renee and Meyer Luskin, made a generous donation to UCLA’s school of public affairs in order to found the Luskin center of Innovation. The Luskin Center’s mission is to bring “elected officials, non-profit, community, and business leaders” to “address the problem of environmental sustainability in Los Angeles through a mixture of scholarship, research and community engagement” . The center works closely with the UCLA Water Technology Research Center . In addition to promoting scholarship, the Luskin Center has begun to publish a series of policy documents promoting technologically savvy water policy . On January 27, 2011 the center hosted a regional water conference looking at new sources for Southern California. This conference brought national experts and regional leaders together where the main thrust of the discussion was water reuse . A good example of the water reuse work from the UCLA is Luskin Center affiliated, Yoram Cohen. He has led the Water Technology Research Center, focusing primarily on technologies needed for new sources of water, principally greywater, desalination, and water reuse/recycling. The center has pioneered advances in reverse osmosis techniques, filter membranes, chemical treatment processes . Additionally, the center has engineered and built multiple prototypes to demonstrate the viability of this research. Most notably, Dr. Cohen and his team have designed and built Com2RO, a portable working reverse osmosis prototype that achieves very high rates of significantly less energy use,dutch bucket for tomatoes and thus cost, than anything currently existing. The development grant for the program came from the U.S. Navy, which desired a cost effective and portable system . Com2RO offers a potentially cost effective distributed water treatment system. Such a development could potentially remove the prohibitive costs of water treatment centralization . The laying of pipes is the most expensive component of water delivery systems—up to 80 percent of the cost . A cost effective distributed decentralized system could potentially reduce the costs of clean water dramatically. Dr. Cohen has also written extensively on the policy barriers to water reuse technologies . Perhaps the most interesting institution in the region is the privately founded National Water Research Institute located near the Orange County’s GWRS in Fountain Valley. NWRI was established by the Joan Irvine Smith and Athalie R. Clarke Foundation in 1991 . Today NWRI’s funding comes from a mix of public and private sources. NWRI’s mission is twofold: to create new sources of water through research and technology and protect the freshwater and marine environments. Interestingly, the NWRI is governed by six Southern Californian water and wastewater agencies, including the most progressive agencies LADWP, OCSD, OCWD, WBMWD. The center seeks to cooperate with public and private water researchers from throughout the world. Since its founding, the NWRI has held numerous regional, national, and international water conferences and symposiums, published countless papers and reports and received several patents for water technologies. NWRI sponsors the International Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize, an annual award of $50,000 given to “outstanding individuals who have implemented better water science research and technology” . The center has spawned two smaller research centers, the National Centers for Separation and the National Center for Thermal Systems Research, as well as the management-focused Center for Excellence in Utility Leadership . Like the Orange County Water Factory 21, the Fountain Valley center is a fountainhead of water reuse research, and a critical loci of the regional water reuse industry. In a case of the public institutions following the lead of the private sector, UC Irvine established the Urban Water Research Center in 2001 , in order “to promote excellence in urban water research, education and outreach” .

The UWRC serves to help build the regional water technology cluster by complementing NWRI and the strong local water utilities technological expertise with the expertise of the UC Irvine faculty in both hard and social sciences that are central to effective urban water management. The center claims that “over 80 faculty members from multiple departments pursue research that addresses water supply; global climate change impacts on water resources and water quality planning; ecosystem health and especially wetlands; water demand using economic tools; wastewater treatment and reuse; and institutional, legal, and public policy issues related to urban water management” . It is interesting that the school does not list water business among the areas of research. Unfortunately, I was not able to contact the center to find out if it ever planned to expand its offerings and develop specific water business or law programs. This is a strategy that other water clusters, such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin have employed . Many innovation studies have found that research expenditures made by private companies often have a larger impact than university expenditures do . There is an ongoing and lively economic debate examining the question of whether large firms or small firms are more likely to generate and commercialize innovation . Innovation scholars believe that having a heterogeneity of firms—an ecosystem comprised of several sized firms—are more likely to lead to innovation . In California’s water industry, one can clearly find innovative firms of all sizes. For example, the large privately held landscaping and irrigation firm, Rain Bird, has been awarded more than 130 patents and today has over 4,000 products. Rainbird’s first patent was for the original horizontal action impact drive sprinkler in 1935 which revolutionized irrigation, particularly in food products . Rainbird continues to invest heavily in water delivery systems. In 2009, the corporation filed 15 irrigation patents, or nearly 1/3 of all irrigation patents filed nationally . If, as some analysts expect, a domestic grey water industry grows, we can expect Rainbird to be at the forefront in creating new grey water irrigation technologies. So far, however, this has not been a focus of their research and development . California also has a very healthy ecosystem with established small and midsize firms, as well as numerous start-up firms. For evidence on the impact these firms are having, I looked at The Artemis Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to disruptive water solutions. The nonprofit sponsors the global Top 50 Water Companies Competition in order to identify potentially game changing technologies that provide venture grade investment opportunities in the water sector . Table 7 below shows the 11 Californian firms that were identified in 2011. California had the most of any region in the world—although the state was closely followed by Israel with 9 firms listed. In a functioning market economy, firms will comprise the majority of employment and are critical to the diffusion of innovations. Innovation scholars have identified having a heterogeneity of firms as an important requirement for successful innovation systems . Heterogeneity breeds a diverse set of beliefs, competencies, behavior, and organizational structures leads to more entrepreneurial experimentation, and hence, is more likely to lead to innovation.These firms cover a vast diversity of industries and services. In addition to the thousands of public agencies, the region supports legions of contractors and supply manufacturers that serve those agencies as well as export markets. Notably, four of the world’s ten largest engineering firms are headquartered in California, and nearly every one of the top ten has some presence in California Additionally, the region has several major manufacturers who produce water products for export, including Rainbird whose headquarters are in Azula, California . The Environmental Business Journal estimates that the national water and wastewater “sector” grossed approximately 136 billion in 2011. The journal defines the water industry as being made up of the following components: wastewater treatment works, water utilities, water equipment and chemicals, services, consulting and engineering, instruments, and analytical services . This would include such diverse work such as pipe repairs and maintenance, corrosion control of water infrastructure, chemical treatment and removal of bio-solids from contaminated water, storm water management, operation and management of water-related facilities, and automated, computer control technology. A 2011 study conducted by the Los Angeles County Economic Roundtable found that Los Angeles County’s water sector was comprised of 17,076 business establishments and employed over 200,000 workers with an annual payroll of nearly $20 billion .