Thirty innovative European companies active in the Environment and Water Technologies sector took part in the EU Gateway | Business Avenues business mission to South East Asia in July 2016.

The two targeted markets, Singapore and Vietnam, are rapidly growing hubs in the South East Asian region, especially for companies in environmental sectors.

Attending Italian company Solwa, represented by Managing Director Paolo Franceschetti, is specialised in water treatment, dehydration and management of water compounds (sludge, leachate, digestate, woody biomass), dehydration of food and new innovative systems for agriculture (in barren and coastal areas).

During the business mission week, domestic companies were particularly interested in Solwa’s ability to reduce sludge amounts from water treatment plants.

In Singapore, companies and authorities alike were excited about the company’s solution to reuse sewage sludge at high volumes and low costs.

In Vietnam, Solwa met numerous potential clients and partners for the local distribution of its products, including C. Melchers in Vietnam.

Thanks to the information we got from EU Gateway | Business Avenues, we are redesigning our machines to be more attractive to South East Asian countries. – Paolo Franceschetti, Managing Director, Solwa (Italy)

The business mission changed the company’s vision on the two markets and is now working on improving its solutions to better fit the local demand.

The company credits the EU Gateway | Business Avenues team and programme experts for helping with understanding the local market, competitive landscape in the field, local customer needs and opportunities for sludge disposal in the region.

“SEA countries will be a huge market for our products, especially due to increasing environmental awareness and growth of the operational costs of water treatment plants and waste disposal.” - Paolo Franceschetti, Managing Director, Solwa (Italy)

Since the mission, Solwa has been working on finishing the redesign of its sludge dryer machine designed for the South East Asian region.

Initially, the production capacity of Solwa’s machine was higher than the need of other local companies, especially in Vietnam. The standard Solwa module of dryer has a capacity of 1.000 tonnes/year of sludge, while target companies in Vietnam have a sludge production of 200-300 tonnes/year.

Due to this discrepancy, the company worked on reducing the capacity, while maintaining a good ratio of performance and price.

With the new product, the company is hoping to consolidate its presence in the region and plans to attend the Environment and Water Technologies business mission to South East Asia in 2018. If your company is also active in the sector, check out upcoming opportunities that are currently open for applications.