Graduates

Dr. Bianca Bailey, the founder and CEO of EnterpriseWorks startup Agriwater, was named the fourth annual recipient of the Cleantech Inclusion award. This award from the U.S. Bank Foundation and Evergreen Climate Innovations supports female and minority entrepreneurs whose work benefits the environment and includes a $25,000 grant and one year of mentorship. Agriwater’s innovative technology specializes in electrolysis that electrifies manure slurry into clean water and other valuable commodities. It emits electrical current through wastewater to remove heavy metals, thereby reducing CO2 emissions and keeping farmers within regulatory compliance. Dr. Bailey started the company in 2021 amid a doctorate program in agricultural engineering at the University of Illinois.  Bailey looks forward to the resources made available by the Cleantech award program. “Being a smart entrepreneur when it comes to technology is also knowing that you can’t just focus on the technology, but you also need to focus on the intellectual property and business implementation of the technology… You can have great technology, but if the business model and everything else doesn’t work out, then it’s simply just a good idea,” – Dr. Bianca Bailey, Agriwater CEO Read more about the award on the U.S. Bank Foundation website.