Roving Blue, a Stiles-based company producing a one-of-a-kind water purification system, saw the end of its run in a national business competition in late October. Where one opportunity ends, though, another begins.
While competing as semi-finalists at the Cleantech Open’s Midwest Innovation Summit in Minneapolis, husband-and-wife business team Jim Gilmet and Marianna “Yana” DeMeyer met with members of the Department of Defense, who are now interested in fast-tracking the system into the military testing program.
“(The Department of Defense) believes the military would be very interested in our unit because there is nothing like it,” DeMeyer said. “I would have spent 10 times the money that I did going there to have that meeting. It was totally worth it.”
DeMeyer, 53, and Gilmet, 60, developed a 25-pound, portable purification system capable of supplying clean drinking water for 190 people a day.
The couple qualified for the Cleantech Open after placing third of 300 competitors in the advanced manufacturing division of the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest in June. Beginning in July, DeMeyer and Gilmet flew to forums and clinics in New York, San Francisco and Chicago before arriving in Minneapolis for the Cleantech Open semifinals Oct. 27-28.
“There were a lot of really innovative and talented people we were going up against in Minneapolis,” DeMeyer said. “There was a lot of work being done for clean technologies and smart buildings that was very impressive.”
As part of the competition, DeMeyer and Gilmet presented their system before a room of judges, where they were scored on their business’ scalability and repeatability. They also ran an informational booth and took part in an event called Investor Connect, in which competitors met with investors to discuss their business ventures.
“It was like speed-dating. As soon as you are done talking to one (investor) you got up and talked to the next one,” DeMeyer said. “It was really wild. We met some really big names that we are interested in staying in contact with.”
The biggest highlight of the summit, however, started with a discussion over eggs and coffee.
“We were at a breakfast roundtable with all these guys from the Department of Defense, and they got up and followed us back to the booth and stood there for the better part of an hour, asking questions about our unit,” DeMeyer said. “It was awesome, I wish we would have gotten a picture of that.”
DeMeyer said these ex-military members were at the summit scouting for technology that could help improve the country’s defense and military operations. With Roving Blue’s lightweight structure and high output of clean drinking water, the Department of Defense is interested in getting the system tested, DeMeyer said.
“I don’t want to be premature, because I need to do more testing so that I have confidence in the unit with all of the different portions of water that we are throwing at it,” DeMeyer said. “One of them is going to be the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewage District water. I want to be able to pull water out of the sewer and have it be safe.”
DeMeyer said Roving Blue is working with Pace Analytical, a Green Bay laboratory, to test Roving Blue’s water samples.
“Right now we are going through a very intensive testing stage which is really going to accelerate the next couple of weeks with lots of sources of water,” DeMeyer said.
As soon as DeMeyer and Gilmet get the system operating at full capacity, their Model A will be ready for military testing to meet the standards of NSF Protocol P248, one of the most intensive testing programs for microbiological water purifiers in the world, according to DeMeyer.
If Roving Blue successfully completes military testing, DeMeyer said it could open the door to terrific opportunities for their system.
“We are very excited about this,” DeMeyer said.
To help finance the testing, which costs $35,000, DeMeyer and Gilmet will run a kick-starter campaign with a goal of $30,000, ending just before Christmas. If they can raise the $30,000, the couple will cover the difference.
“If people are looking for something creative to do for their Christmas shopping, our campaign is going to be offering T-shirts, posters and units themselves at a huge discount,” DeMeyer said. “It’s for people that want to support the company and get us through this testing.”
Additionally, Roving Blue recently announced its new partnership with Green Bay’s Associated Machine Design Inc., to begin the engineering and manufacturing efforts.
Jeff Taylor, president and CEO of Associated Machine Design, said he was first introduced to Roving Blue about three months ago, and he said the two Wisconsin-based companies are optimistic about the future.
“I think the product they have is pretty unique,” Taylor said. “We have the skillset with our software and manufacturing equipment that can help them bring their product to the market.”
“My goal is to be in production in February and March,” DeMeyer said. “It depends on how long it takes to go from a prototype to something that can be produced in the thousands.”
Roving Blue is looking for dealers and distributors. The company recently hired a full-time employee and plans to hire another employee in early 2o15, DeMeyer said.
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