Guest bio
Dr. Reinhard Hübner is the Chief Executive Officer at SKION WATER Gmbh and investment manager at SKion. With a background in industrial operations, Dr. Hübner has over 17 years of professional experience, including with an international management consultancy. Since 2010, he has been responsible for the development and management of the investment portfolio in the water technology sector at SKion.
Summary
Water is the one resource we can’t live without, and for which there is no substitute. Investing in water technology companies is both an entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity to protect a precious resource that can have the biggest impact in the world.
Key points
- Due to the ubiquitous nature of water, we forget we should be investing in water management technologies for real impact.
- The technology to clean water is not necessarily unattainable, it can actually be quite simple, but government regulation and centralisation of management prevents accessibility.
- Adam Smith’s water-diamond paradox continues today.
- Lack of money/funding is not the issue for water solutions.
- Transparency and looking for investment opportunities.
- SKion discusses their investment criteria
- Skion explains the 2 principles of how they operate in the water industry
- Why private international investors are needed.
- Digitalization-what data is important?
- Explore the Investment horizon
- Challenges and costs involved in transporting water
Time stamps
[3:57] Dr. Reinhard Hübner’s background in industrial operations
[6:43] The founder, Susanne Klatten, and her philosophy regarding water
[7:40] Corporate and investment structure of SKion Water
[12:28] Transparency and looking for investment opportunities
[13:00] SKion Investment criteria
[14:35] Agripreneurs, and accessibility to end-users
[14:45] 2 Principles Skion implement in their business
[15:48] The different types of waters
[17:51] Investing in water technologies in Latin America
[19:05] “Invisible” assets and 100 years of economics
[21:53] The distribution of water and its uses
[24:27] Out-of-date water infrastructure
[29:09] Identifying and measuring impact
[30:30] Methane is worse than CO2
[31:30] Investment horizon
[32:09] Technological perspective of water management
[36:07] The water-diamond paradox
[38:29] Resources for understanding supply chains
[41:08] The real waste in bottled water
[43:31] The different types of investing
[47:22] Successful private-public partnership models
[49:40] Privatized utilities and services in most countries
[51:32] Importance of phosphorus
[53:30] How Dr. Hübner ended up in water
Useful links
Reinhard Hübner (SKion GmbH) about investing in water:
YouTube
SKion Awarded Water Company of the Year:
Award
Blue text research Website:
Further resources
INVITATION - Best Water Event
AQUATECH Innovation Forum:
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