• Port’s innovation center will bring together people who are advancing new technologies that make the planet safer, more productive and more resilient.
• Outdoor living laboratory will showcase groundbreaking innovation providing a reliable water supply to communities across the planet

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—The upcoming Tech Port Center + Arena will be at the heart of a vibrant innovation destination where students, educators, researchers and leading industries converge. Together, they will interact as part of a growing community that is already developing and launching new technologies that have San Antonio roots and are improving the quality of life of people across the world.

Among its exhibits, the new facility will feature a unit developed by Genesis Systems: an atmospheric water generation (AWG) technology that converts atmospheric moisture—even in arid climates—into more than a thousand gallons of drinkable water per day. The Port is the first to acquire the system.

The exhibit will play a central role in addressing growing concerns about global water insecurity. According to the United Nations, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity each year, and that problem is intensifying.

Billions of people across the world face dangerous levels of water insecurity. (Wikimedia Commons)

Conceptual rendering and site plan that includes green spaces and demonstrations at Tech Port Center + Arena utilizing water supplied by a Genesis Systems unit. (RVK Architects)

The unit at the Port will supply water for outdoor features at the innovation center, which will open in the spring of 2022. These will include common area green spaces, a community garden maintained by students and other demonstrations.

The new technology will be located alongside the upcoming Tech Port Center + Arena building. (RVK Architects) 

The same technology can be deployed to bring a reliable and abundant water supply to people who face scarcity as a result of climate change, polluted sources and other factors.

Conceptual rendering of a solar-powered Genesis System to support communities in remote, arid environments. (Genesis Systems)

This important offering, like other upcoming exhibits, underscores how the innovation center will advance its core objectives.

With the guidance of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT), the Genesis AWG unit will be an integral learning laboratory to support numerous educational programs. This will allow students to understand the new technology and develop related projects that include a focus on environmental quality, sustainability and resilience.

It will similarly be accessible to universities, researchers and other partners who will work alongside Genesis Systems to continually refine and improve the new technology. This will include adding capabilities such as powering the unit with solar and wind energy and enhancing its ability to carbon-capture.

As an extension of the industry showroom within the innovation center, the location at the Port will allow for demonstrations to prospective users. Governments at all levels, relief organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private enterprises are just some of the entities that will greatly benefit from the innovation.

“We’re thrilled to be the first organization to acquire this new system. It’s a clear and compelling example of the types of interactions and connections we are growing on our innovation campus,” said Port San Antonio President and CEO Jim Perschbach.

“A primary objective of this and other exhibits will be to allow people front-row access to new technologies in ways that are challenging if not impossible to do in other settings,” he added. “Here, people will see for themselves and better understand important advances and the principles behind them. Perhaps more importantly, people of all backgrounds—from young students to top experts—will have a real opportunity to be positive contributors in innovations like the Genesis System that are changing the world.”

“There is no better way to inspire young minds than from personal, hands-on experience,” said SAMSAT founder and CEO David Monroe. “The teams at the Port and Genesis Systems are providing our community with a tremendous educational resource: a life-saving technology with applications that are limited only by our imaginations. We look forward to building some tremendous experiences and programs around it, including engineering, sustainable agriculture and other exciting projects.”

“For years, we have been hard at work and laser focused on delivering a product that can truly transform the world and change the way people think about resiliency and sustainability in the century ahead: By coming together and thinking creatively, we can solve some seemingly insurmountable challenges,” said Genesis Systems CEO Shannon Stuckenberg.

“As innovators, placing one of our first units at the upcoming Tech Port Center + Arena at Port San Antonio gives us a tremendous strategic advantage as we seek to continually evolve our technology and connect with users right here in our community and across the world,” she added.

The new system is the culmination of years of research and development by the company, whose products will be built in Texas. The company’s team is comprised of renowned experts, including leading scientists and former top U.S. military and intelligence officials with vast experience in building a more sustainable and resilient planet.

The Genesis System consists of several new patented processes to create large quantities of drinking water from ambient moisture, even in environments with very low humidity. (Genesis Systems)

Approximately the size of a shipping container, the units are easily transportable by rail, truck and cargo aircraft. This allows rapid deployment as vital assets to ensure the resiliency of an array of operations, such as field hospitals, military bases, aboard ships, and to support places where water supplies are disrupted by natural disasters.

Genesis Systems COO Dr. David Stuckenberg demonstrating the new technology. (Genesis Systems / Tim Ventura)

A reliable water supply is also among the top requirements of military operations. The Department of Defense pays as much as five dollars per gallon of water delivered to remote bases around the world; the Genesis System could provide a similar quantity of drinking water for pennies per gallon. 

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has undertaken an extensive review of the Genesis System, and has issued a corresponding letter of technical merit, This is a critical milestone as the company also engages the defense community in adopting its transformative solution.  

The Genesis Systems team is also focused on serving the needs of industries that require large amounts of water, including agriculture and many types of manufacturing. In addition to the mobile container-sized units, the company can develop larger fixed systems with even greater production capacity.

While systems that capture condensation from industrial air conditioning units and desalination plants have existed for decades as potential avenues to address water scarcity, associated costs and technological limitations have prevented those methods from being widely utilized.  

As will be shown by the new unit in the heart of the Port campus, the Genesis System can produce water to scale far below the unit cost of past technologies used to address water scarcity.

Furthermore, with ongoing improvements—including through collaborations made possible through the exhibit at the Tech Port Center + Arena—company leaders expect the operating costs to continually diminish.