Press Releases

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Michiya Kadota) is pleased to announce that it was granted the Distinction Award in the "Water Company of the Year" category at the Global Water Summit 2017 hosted by Global Water Intelligence.

Global Water Intelligence (hereafter, "GWI") is a global research and consulting firm that releases news and analysis reports on water and sewerage, seawater desalination, industrial water, and other water-related issues of the world. The Global Water Summit, an annual event that GWI began to host in 2007, is one of the world's largest water-related international conferences, where presentations on the latest water business and exchanges of opinions are made with the participation of approximately 600 people, including representatives and specialists from government organizations, water-related companies, and other entities worldwide. The summit also includes the presentation of the Global Water Awards, which consist of ten categories, to companies and projects as winners. The winners are selected in advance through voting by subscribers (around 20,000 subscribers from 80 countries) to the Global Water Intelligence Magazine, which is published by GWI every month.

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. was presented with the Distinction Award at the "Water Company of the Year" category in the presentation ceremony of the Global Water Awards 2017 that was held in Madrid, Spain on April 24. (See the photo below.) The "Water Company of the Year" is the highest of the ten categories of the awards. According to surveys conducted by GWI, among thousands of water-related companies from all over the world, the awards in this category go to two companies (one as the "Winner" and one as the winner of the Distinction Award) which achieved the most remarkable performance or created an excellent business or service in the subject year. The Distinction Award that was granted to Kurita this time is the second highest award following the "Winner."

Kurita was selected as the winner of the award because it was highly evaluated for the acquisition of the water treatment chemicals businesses in Europe and North America, as a result of which it significantly enhanced its presence in the global market. The company was highly acclaimed also because it is working to provide new customer value by investing in a U.S.-based venture company which operates a service business related to the monitoring and big data analysis of water consumption using new IoT radio communication technology. Moreover, it has offered its unique build-own-operate (BOO) business models, which are represented by the ultrapure water supply business, in overseas markets and new markets.

Kurita will continue to create new services and business models by solving customers' issues in its efforts to offer solutions with high added value.

1. *Details of the Global Water Summit 2017 are available at: http://www.watermeetsmoney.com/
2. *Details of the Global Water Awards 2017 are available at: http://www.watermeetsmoney.com/global-water-awards/