Milwaukee Water Council: Building a Global Hub from Local Strengths

In 2007, civic leaders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, envisioned establishing the city as a global leader in freshwater technology. They started with an appreciative question: “What if Milwaukee were known as the world’s leader in freshwater knowledge and management—what would that look like?”

A Strategic Doing workshop helped identify significant existing assets within the region, including over 150 water-related businesses and the presence of five of the world’s eleven largest water technology companies.

Through linking and leveraging these assets, two CEOs from major water technology companies spontaneously offered to make their research labs (one with the nation’s largest cold water testing lab, the other with the largest hot water testing lab) available free to any water-related startup.

This immediate, seemingly small step created a “virtual incubator” and demonstrated the immense potential of leveraging existing resources. This collaborative effort has since transformed Milwaukee into an internationally recognized hub for water technology, attracting significant investment and fostering the development of new businesses and research.