Cycleau

Very surreal to be profiled in Forbes It was such a pleasure to bring journalist Monica Sanders, Maika Nakaoka, and Pedro Yoshi Torres, out to our pilot sites on Governors Island last month as we reflected on what it took to bring Cycleau to this point. I truly owe so much of this project’s success to the SWAROVSKI Foundation’s Creatives for Our Future program, which was created to serve as an enabling force for young people with creative ideas — many of whom don’t realize their own potential. Two years ago, I was a broke college student with an idea that most of those around me thought was interesting, but definitely not something I could take on. Maika Nakaoka, Jakhya Rahman-Corey, and the team at the Swarovski Foundation were that one “yes” in a world of no’s, from my program application to later periods where I felt real imposter syndrome as a young female designer working in wastewater management 🙃 As we move forward, I’m excited to continue supporting the Creatives for Our Futures program as it serves as a catalyst for bright young designers to bring their sustainable design interventions to life. To that end, I’m honored to share that I’m beginning a new role as the SWAROVSKI Foundation’s Youth Representative to the United Nations, through which I hope to expand awareness of the program and the role that young designers can play in mitigating the climate crisis. Read more on the journey it took to develop Cycleau, and the Creatives for Our Future program, on Forbes: https://lnkd.in/eqBdcPVH

If there was ever a time that the phrase “blood, sweat, and tears” applied to what I was doing, it had to have been launching these first pilot units at Governors Island. From chronically cut-up fingers, to days kneeling and sweating under an outdoor sink testing our solar-powered unit, to yeah, quite a few tears all throughout, these past few months proved to be some of the most exhausting and all-encompassing I’ve ever experienced as we made the jump from concept prototype to a working product ready for everyday use. We’re over the hump now, and have two operational units of Cycleau installed across two sites on Governors Island! Our first unit, installed on the island’s Parade Grounds, is an off-grid, solar-powered unit installed beneath an outdoor sink 🌞 Our second unit, installed just last week in an indoor bathroom trailer on the island, is small enough to fit underneath the average sink, and was retrofitted to connect to standard under-the-sink plumbing 🚰 With these two units operating live, our next step is to incorporate a handful of water quality sensors synced to an online data dashboard to capture real-time data on just how effectiveness Cycleau is when it comes to treating greywater 💦 And as we only could have hoped, this first pilot has opened a TON of new doors for deploying Cycleau far and wide! I’m excited to share that we’ve now confirmed three new pilot sites across three different countries, and are moving full steam ahead to develop Cycleau into a commercial product capable of being produced and distributed at scale 🏃♀️ Until then, I have to give a huge thank you to Lauren Wang and the Trust for Governors Island for launching the Climate Solutions Piloting Program, and giving companies like LÆRO the space and testing grounds to derisk their technology solutions in a “living lab” like the island. So much of what’s to come wouldn’t have happened without your support!

It was such a privilege and pleasure to spend this past week in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to participate in the third annual Dushanbe Water Action Decade Conference, and to share our work on Cycleau through the UNICEF #Innovation30 platform. I can’t remember the last time I felt so at home in another country so quickly. Despite what could’ve been major, alienating barriers — unshared languages and alphabets, different religions and cultural norms, and limited tourism infrastructure or international exposure — the Tajik people I met were so kind, open, and genuine that I soon felt happier to be in Dushanbe than I think I ever felt in New York City or many other places. The Tajik youth I had the chance to meet through UNICEF really embodied these qualities as they were some of the most eager, curious, and ambitious people I’ve met so far. They’ve got great ideas to address a critical shortage of basic environmental, economic, and educational resources across Central Asia, and they have an attitude for making a positive impact that I rarely see anywhere else. I’m really grateful for the chance to have met some of these youth, like Anis Tohirov and Bekhruz Yusupov, and to have shared my experiences in design and entrepreneurship to support how they accelerate their own projects. I’m also looking forward to exploring how we can pilot Cycleau in Tajikistan, both in Dushanbe and some of the country’s more rural and mountainous areas. I think it’s only by leveraging concepts like Cycleau as unifying projects that we can improve trade and discourse between parallel regions like North America and Central Asia. Special thanks to Ammar Orakzai and Beena Kuttiparambil for inviting myself and Beren Kayali of Deploy™ to share our work at this year’s conference, and for engaging us across UNICEF Tajikistan's programming. And of course, none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for Eleonora G. of #Innovation30 who launched this program with UNICEF Innovation last year to identify and highlight youth climate entrepreneurs around the world with opportunities like this. Very excited for my next time in Tajikistan, and to sharing more on the incredible progress we’ve made in the last few months soon!

After the exciting Global Innovation Challenge, we at Venture For ClimateTech are thrilled to announce the 2024 winners! 🎉 A huge congratulations to the outstanding innovators in each category: Cycleau, Women in ClimateTech 🚀 Calectra, Future of Energy ⚡ Carbon Infuse, Future of Buildings 🏢 Matcha Electric, Future of Transportation 🚗 Your innovative solutions inspire us and chart the path toward a more sustainable tomorrow. We extend our gratitude to the judges of the Global Innovation Challenge for lending their expertise and selecting this year's distinguished winners. Well done! #Innovation #Sustainability #ClimateTech #ventureforclimatetech #globalinnovationchallenge

Very excited to share that Cycleau will be launching its first pilot on Governors Island next month as part of the Trust for Governors Island Climate Solutions Piloting Program! Six projects spanning themes of water treatment, water quality monitoring, and flood resilience were selected for pilot installations on the island following a competitive review process last fall for proposals addressing the challenge of "water abundance" in New York City. Over the course of Cycleau's pilot, which will run from April through October this year, we'll be installing two units of our compact greywater treatment system at publicly-accessible sinks located at Nolan Park and Yankee Pier to test how our product works over a six-month period. Throughout that time, we'll be offering: 🚰 Real-time water quality monitoring, with Cycleau's IoT sensors reporting results to an open-source digital dashboard published to our website 👋 Public programming through advocacy events, demo days, and student workshops to raise awareness on the importance of wastewater treatment in New York City Thrilled to have had the opportunity to discuss these activities, alongside the five other pilots, with Bloomberg CityLab as they shared the news on what's coming to Governors Island this spring. Yet to me, the craziest piece of it all is looking back on being a student in New York just two years ago, working on the idea for Cycleau as my BFA thesis at Parsons School of Design - The New School. Back in 2021, Governors Island was one of the sites I researched as I scoped out the opportunities for water reuse as a solution to New York's sewage overflow challenge. Thinking back to the research I was doing then, I couldn't have imagined where Cycleau would go in the years to come, let alone that Governors Island would be the first site where we'd install a working prototype. So I'm excited, trepidatious, and still kind of in disbelief as we take on this next stage to bring Cycleau to reality! Stay tuned for our installation on April 15, and check out more at Bloomberg: https://lnkd.in/eqRPJzN3

I often describe Cycleau as being for any population facing at least one of three challenges: tap water contamination, sewage pollution, or water scarcity. But like any good design project, Cycleau's roots were a lot more specific than that. Almost four years ago, I began researching the challenges local residents in Baltimore, Maryland faced in accessing clean water as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated rates of unemployment, utility debt, and water shutoffs in Baltimore's low-income neighborhoods. The early research led me to explore similar patterns of public divestment causing tap water contamination and sewage pollution in many other "post-industrial" U.S. cities, like Detroit, Cleveland, and Newark. And so Cycleau began as an early concept to propose decentralized, point-of-use water treatment and wastewater recycling in low-income urban areas with limited access to clean tap water and safe waterways. I really enjoyed being able to spend the last few months back in the DC area with Halcyon, and to presenting Cycleau as it was designed to support the residents of Baltimore and many other cities where clean tap water isn't a given. Special thanks also go to Mercy Erhiawarien and all of the Halcyon fellows whom I got to work with this past fall 💫

The final DC residency week for our Fall 2023 Opportunity Intensive fellows is wrapping up! Here’s what they’ve been up to over the past three days: 💻 Wednesday was tech day! The cohort spent the morning with Andrea Wilk Mizrahi from ideas42 learning all about user centric design. After, they had a skills series session on government contracting with Oye Owolewa and Keith Howard from Government of the District of Columbia. They ended the day with a final pitch practice ahead of their showcase. 🎙️ Thursday was the big day—the showcase! The fellows spent the morning doing a calming yoga session led by Halcyon’s Lauren O., and later, they took the stage for their final pitches and networking. To see more from the showcase, check out the full video on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eazdSrPg 💰 Today was all about personal wealth. First, the fellows had a breakfast and panel with Mireille Raad and MaBinti Y., who shared insights on life as a Halcyon Alum! They then had their final skills series session on building wealth with Mary Robinson Carter from Merrill Lynch. They are spending the rest of the day bonding as a cohort and doing holiday activities! Thanks for following along with us during our final residency week of 2023! This was a truly special group of founders, and we were privileged to watch them grow and develop personally and professionally while at Halcyon. Laurel Djoukeng, Sparc, Runwei™ | AI & ML for Financial Inclusion and Economic Mobility, Elizabeth Tikoyan, Healp: Combines Community, Big Data and AI to Deliver Patients Answers the Medical World Cannot, DeJa Love, MPH, PMP®,ACSM-CPT®, The Black Women's Wellness Agency, Inc., DJ Little, SEEDschool, WeRadiate, Sashti B., Jui Khopkar, Carly Buxton, PhD, Nessle, Emily Yu, AI PRIORI, INC., Noemi Florea, Cycleau, Juan Manuel Contreras, Ph.D., Caraline Pellatt

Today, our Opportunity Intensive founders pitched at their final showcase! It was an honor to watch these talented, passionate entrepreneurs take the stage and share their ideas with the world. Thank you to our sponsors the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Deloitte, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Goodwin, and S&R Evermay for your incredible support of our Opportunity Intensive. With your help, our founders received a stipend, a two-week-long residency at Halcyon, monthly programming, leadership coaching, and so much more during their time at Halcyon. Please join us in congratulating these founders again for an incredible residency! Our fellows have poured their time and energy into ventures that directly address inequity in their industries and communities, and we know the D.C. area will benefit tremendously from their ventures. Laurel Djoukeng, Sparc, Runwei™ | AI & ML for Financial Inclusion and Economic Mobility, Elizabeth Tikoyan, Healp: Combines Community, Big Data and AI to Deliver Patients Answers the Medical World Cannot, DeJa Love, MPH, PMP®,ACSM-CPT®, The Black Women's Wellness Agency, Inc., DJ Little, SEEDschool, WeRadiate, Sashti B., Jui Khopkar, Carly Buxton, PhD, Nessle, Emily Yu, AI PRIORI, INC., Noemi Florea, Cycleau, Juan Manuel Contreras, Ph.D., Caraline Pellatt

The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) has officially wrapped up, and we are so proud of our Halcyon Fellows & Alums who participated in the conference. Here are some highlights: •Esther Wanjiru, CEO FarmerLifeline (Farmer LifeLine) spoke on her work to drive sustainability agendas at the "Start-ups Shaping the Climate Agenda” panel on the #Youth4Sustainability stage. •Nicholas Kee (Kee Farms) had several speaking appearances, including one that explored the impact of youth entrepreneurship on climate change, and another called ‘Climate Startups in Action: The Blue Economy,” which spoke on the pitfalls of climate finance, the challenges around scale, the key role of government, and more. •Bayan Al-Abdullat (ADADK) was part of COP28’s Energy Transition Change Makers Initiative and attended the Zayed Sustainability Prize ceremony as a finalist in the competition's water category. •Noemi Florea (Cycleau) spoke at a young professionals debate at the Water Pavilion, presented Cycleau through UNICEF Innovation’s HOLOBOX platform and in their opening event for #Innovation30, and exhibited a prototype of Cycleau at a Prototypes for Humanity exhibit that recognized the top 100 solutions to climate and social challenges by students and recent graduates in 2023. •Hajer Siala (Agritable) spoke on supporting women climate entrepreneurs globally and helping them access finance in the Green Zone for the launch of #SheWinsClimate. •Sabrine Chennaoui (MONSAPO) showcased at the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection’s event, participated in two events for the IFC - International Finance Corporation on supporting women climate entrepreneurs (including one with Hajer!), participated in the Climate Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition by the U.S. Department of State, and won the She Goes Green Award with the Egyptian Ministry of Environment! •Wahid A. Kamalian (Amaly Legacy) was part of a panel discussion titled ‘Sustainable Agrifood Systems and Regenerative Agriculture in the Middle East and Africa.’ Congratulations again for an amazing #COP28! Halcyon fellows are making their mark worldwide.