Manufacturing is Supporting a Cleaner Future

Chicago-based Current created RENEW, a regional coalition of over 75 partners, to advance water innovation and build a circular blue economy in the Great Lakes region. RENEW is one of 9 engines funded by the National Science Foundation.

Founded in 2016, independent nonprofit water innovation hub Current has a mission to grow a circular blue economy, accelerate innovation, and solve pressing water challenges.

Sentry joined the Current Industry Consortium (CIC) in September 2024, becoming the third industry partner following founding partners Exelon and Ingredion. In the last year, Sentry has become a stakeholder in the RENEW’s four key areas – ecosystem building, research and development, technology translation and workforce development.

"One year into our partnership, Sentry continues to show how expertise from Wisconsin and across the Great Lakes region is driving global water solutions," says Alaina Harkness, CEO of Current and RENEW. "Its leadership in advanced manufacturing and sampling strengthens the Current Industry Consortium and showcases the power of collaboration. Partnerships like ours show that innovation built in the Great Lakes is truly made for the world."

For Sentry Equipment’s vice president of engineering Dave Nowak, being a part of a Midwest-led initiative holds greater significance as the region is poised for growth. He said that a key priority is to connect the financial hubs like Chicago with the many academic institutions doing world-class research across the Great Lakes region, including several universities in Wisconsin.

“We’re getting people that have the capital and people that have the ideas and putting them to work to actually take an idea from the laboratory and get it out into the world,” he said.

The most immediate push for Sentry as part of RENEW has been in the research, specifically making sure university researchers are developing ideas around specific industry use cases. Sentry Equipment is helping to shape discussions around actual market needs, what is concerning businesses and where they see the technology needs progressing.

“A lot of discussions here in Wisconsin are focused on how we more efficiently treat the water,” he said. “We know there is going to be more regulation in the future, so we want to be a leader in driving new technologies forward.”

Nowak and his team at Sentry are also focused on making sure not only is the engine developing new technology but also that it is making sure any water treatment advancement can be retrofittable, scalable and usable for smaller entities — not just the major wastewater departments like Chicago or Milwaukee.

Workforce development is also a great priority for both Current and Sentry, specifically making sure that people have the necessary skillsets to utilize any of this newly created technology. Nowak sees technician

development as a key focus: part of his work with Current is ensuring that the Innovation Engine supports the programs and training to strengthen the technician sector.

As more technology is developed, more startups created and manufacturing increases, creating a strong workforce pipeline is an imperative.

“Workforce development is one of the greatest needs facing the Wisconsin manufacturing industry,” he said. “It’s about how we can attract and promote more direct jobs like technicians but also second-tier craftsmen, including machinists and welders.”