More than 1,200 delegates met in February at FSM4 Conference 2017 in the Indian city of Chennai. The context: creating faecal sludge management (FSM) infrastructure and public services that work for everyone while keeping faecal sludge out of the environment. This is a major challenge for achieving universal sanitation access. To address it, leading global sector organisations inaugurated the FSM Conference series in 2011. This year’s edition, FSM4, brought together professionals working for utilities, service providers, cities, governments, and other relevant sectors. Participants included the South African minister of water and sanitation, Ms Nomvalu Mokonyane, as well as academics, scientists, consultants, donors and industry representatives.

For INNOQUA the conference was the first opportunity to present its innovative technology to a global specialist audience. Three consortiums’ partners contributed to the conference in different ways. BORDA as one of the conference conveners facilitated a BORDA Partner booth in the exhibition area, a fantastic chance to disseminate our flyers and to have many in-depth discussions and informal chats with the delegates. Undoubtedly a highlight – NOBATEK’s Jean-Baptiste Dussaussois addressing 200 attendees at an official evening reception. On the scientific side, Laurent Sohier and Camille Urban from HelioPure gave a very well-attended presentation on their bio-solar technology. To sum up: it was, as Jean-Baptiste Dussaussois noted in his video statement, a very successful trip to India.