NEWSROOM
The Star Trek-inspired deep tech designed to instantly identify E. Coli in drinking water
23 March 2023
RisosEnterprises Ltd. is embarking on a mission to revolutionise water safety with a novel, trademarked, handheld water pathogen detector, called the Waicorder. The start-up team have received support from the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and received a $1 million MBIE Smart Ideas Grant to enable the development of a proof of concept.
Founder Dr Alex Risos says “I always was fascinated by the gadgets in Star Trek. One device that can analyse multiple properties remotely is just the future of sensing.” His tricorder-like device will scan water and provide results in seconds, rather than days. It has the potential to prevent illnesses and save water providers millions of dollars, time, and resources.
The Waicorder technology uses novel photonics to quantify and qualify water-borne micro pathogens and dissolved components in real-time. Alex explains the technology’s evolution through analogy: “Remember how we took photos back in the day, compared to now with a smartphone? We had to get the right film roll, take a photo, run to a photo shop, get it developed and only days later see the result. Half of the photos we threw away. It was really awful, and everyone hated it, but we accepted this status quo.” Alex elaborates that “Water testing is very similar to that obsoletism; someone takes a sample, brings it to the laboratory, does chemical testing for days and then does more manual reporting. This old-fashioned status quo causes people to get sick and industry faces heavy financial losses. Nobody likes that.” Alex concludes: “The Waicorder will be for the water industry what the smartphone is today for people. It will enable widespread and instantaneous testing of water, thoroughly, wherever and whenever.” Alex is confident of a revolution for the entire water industry soon because “RisosEnterprises does not respect the status quo”.
RisosEnterprises has a solid two-year stretch, post-investment, to develop the technology for market. Alex says they do not plan to stop until every water supplier and water industry in New Zealand has at least one Waicorder. Their future plans are to expand on this technology for more comprehensive environmental and engineering scanning applications, and to enter the health sector for instant patient disease detection.
Alex did his Bachelors and Masters in photonics in Germany, pursuing an interest in developing novel technologies to solve real world challenges. He came to New Zealand to tackle problems in material degradation detection by developing a patented sensor for New Zealand’s largest electric grid supplier. After completing his PhD, he joined the University of Auckland at the end of 2017 as a Research Fellow in Ultrafast Non-Linear Photonics and related phenomena.
RisosEnterprises developed out of CIE’s Velocity entrepreneurship development programme. “Winning the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2021 and our ongoing customer feedback and collaborations is my confirmation that the Waicorder technology is a serious undertaking worth pursuing”, says Alex. In 2022 he was named as a finalist in the Breakthrough Innovator category of the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, which celebrate heroes in research commercialisation.
“Nationwide, gastroenteritis costs New Zealand taxpayers over 30 million on public healthcare, which could be dramatically reduced using our technology”, says Alex. If successful in New Zealand, he anticipates that the Waicorder will become ISO certified for rapid global adoption to solve one of the primary United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – transforming water safety standards around the world.
Alex acknowledges the contributions of his mentors Barry Woolcott and Peter Lee, and his team of passionate interns who are making this possible. His advice to aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs is “Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. Because if you do – you cannot bring the human race forward.”
23 March 2023
RisosEnterprises Ltd. is embarking on a mission to revolutionise water safety with a novel, trademarked, handheld water pathogen detector, called the Waicorder. The start-up team have received support from the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and received a $1 million MBIE Smart Ideas Grant to enable the development of a proof of concept.
Founder Dr Alex Risos says “I always was fascinated by the gadgets in Star Trek. One device that can analyse multiple properties remotely is just the future of sensing.” His tricorder-like device will scan water and provide results in seconds, rather than days. It has the potential to prevent illnesses and save water providers millions of dollars, time, and resources.
The Waicorder technology uses novel photonics to quantify and qualify water-borne micro pathogens and dissolved components in real-time. Alex explains the technology’s evolution through analogy: “Remember how we took photos back in the day, compared to now with a smartphone? We had to get the right film roll, take a photo, run to a photo shop, get it developed and only days later see the result. Half of the photos we threw away. It was really awful, and everyone hated it, but we accepted this status quo.” Alex elaborates that “Water testing is very similar to that obsoletism; someone takes a sample, brings it to the laboratory, does chemical testing for days and then does more manual reporting. This old-fashioned status quo causes people to get sick and industry faces heavy financial losses. Nobody likes that.” Alex concludes: “The Waicorder will be for the water industry what the smartphone is today for people. It will enable widespread and instantaneous testing of water, thoroughly, wherever and whenever.” Alex is confident of a revolution for the entire water industry soon because “RisosEnterprises does not respect the status quo”.
RisosEnterprises has a solid two-year stretch, post-investment, to develop the technology for market. Alex says they do not plan to stop until every water supplier and water industry in New Zealand has at least one Waicorder. Their future plans are to expand on this technology for more comprehensive environmental and engineering scanning applications, and to enter the health sector for instant patient disease detection.
Alex did his Bachelors and Masters in photonics in Germany, pursuing an interest in developing novel technologies to solve real world challenges. He came to New Zealand to tackle problems in material degradation detection by developing a patented sensor for New Zealand’s largest electric grid supplier. After completing his PhD, he joined the University of Auckland at the end of 2017 as a Research Fellow in Ultrafast Non-Linear Photonics and related phenomena.
RisosEnterprises developed out of CIE’s Velocity entrepreneurship development programme. “Winning the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2021 and our ongoing customer feedback and collaborations is my confirmation that the Waicorder technology is a serious undertaking worth pursuing”, says Alex. In 2022 he was named as a finalist in the Breakthrough Innovator category of the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, which celebrate heroes in research commercialisation.
“Nationwide, gastroenteritis costs New Zealand taxpayers over 30 million on public healthcare, which could be dramatically reduced using our technology”, says Alex. If successful in New Zealand, he anticipates that the Waicorder will become ISO certified for rapid global adoption to solve one of the primary United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – transforming water safety standards around the world.
Alex acknowledges the contributions of his mentors Barry Woolcott and Peter Lee, and his team of passionate interns who are making this possible. His advice to aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs is “Never let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. Because if you do – you cannot bring the human race forward.”
EMAIL
CIE@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ
POSTAL ADDRESS
THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND BUSINESS SCHOOL
PRIVATE BAG 92019, AUCKLAND
