DoStartUP!

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong (the 1st law of Arthur C. Clarke)

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible (the 2nd law of Arthur C. Clarke)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (the 3rd law of Arthur C. Clarke)

Uhh, not that far, Mr. Clarke...

How right Arthur Clarke was. The word "magic" is the most common epithet that people who hear about our technology for the first time give it. It's like magic: imagine a box or panel that produces water that wasn't in it, using the heat of the sun. And it can do it even in the extremely dry air of deserts. Magic, indeed! What's even more amazing is that nature can do it even without a box. Usually, we only see the final stage of the process: clouds, rain or snow, fog or dew in the morning. Water seeps through the earth, sand and rocks, is purified and passes through minerals, and comes out somewhere below in the form of a spring. Today, this is the most expensive water on the planet - it is bottled and served in restaurants. Throughout history, people have used water from the air. But only water which nature gave... and if it gave.

Science has changed these rules. Today, you can artificially cause rain or drink from a puddle through a special filter straw. However, the difference with our technology is that there is no liquid water at the input. And this creates serious technical difficulties. After all, a person cannot get drunk on water vapor from the air, no matter how humid it is. Billions of years of evolution have not given us such an ability. But science does! Of course, there are some tricks. The higher the air humidity, the easier this task. For example, it is easier to produce water from the air at night, when the humidity outside is higher. However, there is no solar heat at night - so we divide the daily cycle of our product into two phases, "day" and "night". There is another famous technique - water can drip from the air conditioner. This is exactly the same water from the air, but you can't drink it! There are special refrigeration generators of atmospheric water that additionally purify this water to make it drinkable. They require a lot of electricity and work well only at high humidity, but this is a wonderful device. Our product works on solar energy and even at low humidity - and it is also a great device. You are lucky as no one in history, because you have such a wide choice of "magic" devices that you will not find in any fantasy. Want a little magic?! Find a free open area, well-lit by the Sun. And the rest is for DoWater.

P.S. If we have already mentioned Arthur Clarke and his laws, then how can we not remember Frank Herbert and other science fiction writers? The DoWater project is also a cultural phenomenon. It sounds strange, but the project would hardly have happened if not for Dune, Mad Max or Waterworld. All these stories are based on a similar idea - that in their reality no one has ever created a solar generator of fresh clean water from air 😊 Science fiction! But we will talk about this another time.

So, Kate and I moved to Montenegro, which became a haven for anti-war Russians. And where is Montenegro? This is where the sea, mountains, warm-hearted people and a lot of sun are - we recommend it. And Montenegro has also excellent conditions for testing the technology. This is how DoWater was born in 2023. Honestly, we did not really know what and how to do in a new country. Our connections, acquaintances, clear logistics, familiar marketplaces, laboratories and even our prototypes - everything was left behind. We had to start from scratch or at least small. The first success, even a micro-success, was vital for us. We applied for a grant from the Innovation Fund of Montenegro. Later we were told that foreigners in Montenegro cannot receive a local grant. But we didn’t know it then: we applied and… received a grant. Many thanks to the Fund! However, the euphoria did not last long, it became clear that we had gotten ourselves into such an adventure: to create a full-size prototype from zero in 6 months in a country where we do not know any stores, manufacturers, or even the language well enough. The import alone required 63 shipments, and by the end of the project we already knew all the postmen and customs officers 😊

This is how a project began that lasted for several years. I admit, for a long time it was more of a hobby than a job. There were successes and huge failures. And then February 2022 happened... If the first disaster drove us into the home, the second disaster robbed of our home.

Our project, like us, comes from Russia. You've probably heard a lot about this country in the last couple of years. 🤬 DoWater owes its existence to two disasters that happened 2 years apart: Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. It all started with four bored scientists from the Academy of Sciences, locked in their houses during the quarantine in April 2020. We lost access to our lab, to our equipment, and all we had on hand were laptops and our imagination. And we decided to calculate something new. Well, you know these scientists: what else to do at home if not new mathematical models? Not long before that, we saw an article in the media about harvesting water from the air in the desert using solar energy and sorbents, special porous materials. This is very interesting, since sorbents are usually used for drying or purifying. But drying the air in the desert? Intriguing and a little skeptical.. But we were specialists in sorbents and, what is important, we were looking for ways to use them in an unconventional way. Bingo! 🎉🎊