RAINMAKER HOLLAND BV

Their core work

Rainmaker Holland is a Dutch technology SME that develops off-grid water desalination systems powered entirely by renewable energy — wind and solar. Their core product converts seawater or brackish water into clean drinking water without any connection to the electrical grid, using membrane distillation technology. They target markets where centralized water infrastructure is absent or unreliable: remote tourist resorts, humanitarian disaster zones, and communities in water-scarce regions. The company progressed from a feasibility concept (SME Phase 1, 2017) to a fully funded product development programme (SME Phase 2, 2019–2023), indicating they moved from technology validation to commercial product build.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

The SME Phase 1 project in 2017 carried no tagged keywords, reflecting its nature as a short feasibility study focused on the core proposition of renewable-powered desalination at medium scale. By the Phase 2 project starting in 2019, the keyword set expanded substantially to include humanitarian, NGO, sustainable tourism, and wastewater recycling — signalling that the company had defined concrete market segments and broadened the application from a pure technology concept to a deployable product for multiple end-use contexts. The trajectory is from technology proof-of-concept to a market-ready solution targeting both commercial (tourism) and social-impact (humanitarian aid) buyers.

Rainmaker is scaling from technology validation toward commercial deployment, with a clear dual-market strategy targeting both sustainable tourism operators and humanitarian/NGO buyers — partners who can offer pilot sites, distribution channels, or funding in either of those markets will find strong alignment.

How they like to work

Rainmaker has acted as sole coordinator on both H2020 projects, with zero recorded consortium partners — a direct consequence of the SME Instrument funding scheme, which is designed for single-company grants rather than multi-partner consortia. This means they have not built a visible European collaboration network through H2020 and are accustomed to executing independently rather than as part of a research partnership. For future consortia under Horizon Europe or EIC, they would likely bring a specific product technology and need partners who supply complementary capabilities such as field deployment, water chemistry research, or market access in target regions.

No consortium partners or cross-country collaborations are recorded in their H2020 data, which reflects the solo-company structure of SME Instrument grants rather than any lack of external engagement. Their real-world network is likely built through commercial channels, humanitarian organisations, and tourism industry contacts rather than through EU research partnerships.

What sets them apart

Rainmaker occupies a narrow but defensible niche: a complete off-grid water system where the energy source and water treatment are co-designed from the ground up, rather than bolting a standard desalination unit onto a generic solar array. Their dual focus on humanitarian deployment and sustainable tourism means the same technology serves both donor-funded aid procurement and commercially motivated resort operators — a wider addressable market than most water-tech SMEs target. Based in Rotterdam, one of Europe's leading water technology clusters, they have natural access to Dutch water sector expertise, port logistics, and international trade networks.

Highlights from their portfolio

• W2W - Water to Water
  A EUR 2.345M SME Instrument Phase 2 grant — one of the largest single-company awards available under H2020 — confirming that EU evaluators judged the technology credible and the market case strong enough for full commercial development funding.
• W2W - Wind and Solar
  Classic SME Phase 1 feasibility grant (EUR 50K, 2017) that directly unlocked the much larger Phase 2, demonstrating a clean technology validation pathway from concept to funded product.