In the environmental industry, it is extremely difficult to strike a balance between product efficiency and market viability; improvements on one end often require a sacrifice on the other. However, a team of students from Harvard and Brown have successfully transcended this stereotype with their startup H2Ok Innovations, which offers a host of technologies that perform a nearly instantaneous analysis of organic and chemical contaminants in water samples. Their fusion of data analytics with consumer accessibility has already led them to garner several accolades. Just a few months ago, the team won the $15,000 grand prize at the 2019 Rhode Island Business Competition, with which they plan to deploy more units and gather more data for the machine learning algorithms behind their program. During the 45th International Conference, I had the privilege to speak with CEO and Co-Founder David Lu and COO Timothy Wijaya (CFO and Co-Founder Annie Lu, who is also David’s sister, was absent) about their enterprise.

The division of labor within a compact startup often proves to be one of the greatest tests to the team’s unity, especially when there are varying levels of experience among its members. However, H2Ok has transformed this potential concern into an extremely valuable asset: diversity of thought. Lu’s extensive microbiology research had already provided him with an initial template of which technologies could be utilized to identify minuscule pollutants, yet it was his sister’s expertise in data science and finance that brought the concept to a new level of ingenuity. Wijaya’s entrance as a political science student with experience working for a water quality think-tank and an eagerness to get involved in an environmental business venture launched H2Ok into its marketing stage, and since then, each member has settled into an exclusive role. As Wijaya puts it, “David is the Innovator, Annie is the Communicator, and I am the Executor… since the startup consists of a pretty small team, we want to make sure that every single team member brings a significant degree of value to the table.” 

Indeed, it is critical to bring as much to the table as possible when operating within a niche market lacking flamboyance to attract attention. “We’re in the water industry… it’s not sexy. It’s not e-commerce, it’s not fintech,” Wijaya jokingly acknowledges. However, he believes that this is not an impediment to H2Ok, but rather an opportunity for growth: “We’ve done our research, we’ve talked to professionals and to our customers… we know that there is a demand for our service, and because nobody else is looking at it, sure it might hurt us in some ways. At the same time, however, because we occupy this white space, it gives us the opportunity to scale exponentially. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge.” According to Lu, most other competitors in the water industry rely on outdated technology to perform a contamination analysis of water samples, and the laboratory process alone can take weeks before yielding results. H2Ok has circumvented these costly procedures by shifting the burden of the workload to artificial intelligence, substantially reducing the amount of equipment necessary for testing. In the case of the PhoneScope, Lu says, he can use a 3D printer to produce a plastic lens that fits directly onto a smartphone’s camera and works in tandem with the corresponding app to produce data in real time. “It brings the lab directly into your hands, it brings the power of the microbiologist directly to you.” The total cost for PhoneScope? Less than a dollar. By focusing on empowering the individual with instant data on their water quality, Lu believes that the idea and the science behind it speak for themselves, with or without the sexy flair. Such has been the case for the H2Ok team: they are currently collaborating with local governments to deploy AquaSensor units and construct a comprehensive water profile using their WaterWatch app. Members of the agricultural industry have even reached out to them about using their technology for measuring pollen levels in the air, an avenue which Lu and Wijaya believe will be critical in the expansion of H2Ok.

The experience of running an environmental startup has left Lu and Wijaya with major takeaways about the value of student-based entrepreneurship. In an age of digitization, all forms of information are available in any imaginable topic, and Wijaya believes that this has been a critical supplement to his education: “What’s the greatest university in the world? For me, it’s the Internet.” However, both Lu and Wijaya firmly believe that experience is the best metric of knowledge, and they have found that their work in H2Ok has lent them a background in practical applications, such as confidence in salesmanship and management, that formal studies alone cannot provide. For students concerned about their prospects in pursuing a business venture, the two both agree that one does not need a Nobel-Prize-worthy invention to launch a startup. “It doesn’t need to be a revolutionary technology to make the world a better place.” Wijaya has choice words of wisdom to offer: “The most powerful position is not President or Prime Minister; it’s citizen.” Take it from a company whose dedication to the citizen led them to win the $15,000 Impact Challenge Award at this year’s International Conference.