Why did the Aquaporin protein cross the road?
To get to the Nobel Prize.
Peter Agre was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering aquaporins. The proteins that create highly efficient water channels in our kidneys.
So if the discovery warranted a Nobel prize, why then did Aquaporin A/V the Danish biomimicry technology company founded in 2005, focused on commercialising the use of aquaporin protein for water applications, finally run out of financial runway and become an ‘overnight failure after 20 years’, (or did they really fail?), and what does winning the Nobel Prize mean as a leading indicator for success in new water technologies?
I can think of 3 other Nobel prizes associated with innovative applications in water. 1996: Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Fullerenes (Carbon Nanotubes are cylindrical fullerenes)
2010: Nobel Prize for Physics: Graphene Membranes. (Commercialised by companies including Evove.
2025: Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Metal Organic Frameworks (Omar Yaghi)
Why did Aquaporin A/V fail?
Well the Monday Morning Quarterbacks have all the answers, and there’s a la carte menu of good explanations to take your pick from.
I would simply apply Occam’s razor principle:
Occam’s razor Principle: The simplest answer is the often the correct one.
A) It didn’t have a 30% performance advantage over incumbent technology.
I will share what we observed at BlueTech Research when reviewing this 10 years ago in 2016:
“The well-commercialised Nano H20 membranes offer an energy efficiency gain of 20-30%, which is similar to what Aquaporin is potentially offering. The higher flux in the case of Nano H2O came at the cost of lower salt selectivity, however, this will not be the case for Aquaporin membrane due to its protein’s highly selective channel. This could also prove to be an advantage in terms of boron rejection.”
Diving deeper into it, using the Dynamics of Water Innovation heuristics and Tool-kit:
Sustaining Innovation: Didn’t have the required performance improvement to disrupt incumbents in conventional applications and be Market Taking.
For the technology to succeed as a Sustaining Innovation and capture market share, it needed a greater then 30% performance improvement advantage at the outset in 2005, over an incumbent technology benchmarks at that time.
Market Creating: FO Applications
The market for FO didnt exist (and still, largely doesn’t exist) – so it needed to be market creating.
Generally, it requires a crisis to create new market, or, some form of radical functionality.
What worked?
They succeeded in stabilising the aquaporin protein in a membrane – a task many thought would be impossible.
They had a great team: Dynamic young team, challenger brand, new kid on the block in market area known for producing successful exits, from Inge, NanoH2O, X-Flow and Zenon.
They had a great story: Biomimicry and Nobel Prize winning science.
Where did the wheels come off?
It probably started with the investment from Poten and Interchina.
Which probably led to them making the home water filter, which was a signal.
At the time, I admired the move, not because it felt like the right market for Aquaporin membranes, it didnt, but for the moxy and hutzpah, the never-give-up attitude. They needed a way to generate some cash from membranes.
Like Aquisense’s UVT sensor device. But, really, it was a distraction, a detour. The IPO in 2021 was going to catch-up with them when they were not able to deliver the earnings.
Was there an alternative pathway?
The NanoH2O model: Raise even more money, build a membrane factory, sell small-scale desal systems to the Caribbean market and then sell the company to LG Chem, and do all of that in in 9 years. NanoH2O was founded the same year as Aquaporin, in 2005 and was sold, just 9 years later to LG Chem in 2014. Versus the 20 years that Aquaporin took to reach liquidation.
Speed and velocity are important leading indicators.
Is there a future?
Aquaporin A/V has a strong IP portfolio and they have technical capability and know-how that took years , and many millions in R&D, to acquire. There are niche applications where the selectivity of channel may confer advantages and I believe, we have not heard the last of aquaporin proteins in water, the selfish-water technology gene, lives on.
Aquaporin A/S holds a strong IP position in the field of biomimetic membrane materials. The company owns nine patent families and one jointly owned with Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). In total, over 61 patents have been granted worldwide with many applications pending. The patent rights give protection on membrane design and incorporation of membranes in industrial standard form factors as well as on the uses of the Aquaporin Inside technology in technical fields spanning from production of ultrapure water, diluted liquid fertilizer, treatment of industrial wastewater, generation of salinity power, and uses within hemodialysis and hemofiltration.
