Innovation in the Wild: How to solve humanity's problems without drowning in legal complexity
Innovation doesn’t just need a market. It needs the right conditions to survive and scale.
And if those conditions aren't right, even the most ground-breaking technology will struggle to survive, let alone scale.
We saw this first-hand with a long-time client who set out to do something incredible: bring clean, drinkable water to remote parts of the world.
Not with big, centralised water plants.
Not with trucked-in Evian bottles.
But with portable, IoT-enabled purification systems that could function anywhere there was a water source.
It was a stunning example of practical innovation: life-changing for the people who used it, and commercially viable for the company that created it.
The technology was also self-aware. If the water wasn’t safe to drink, it didn’t flow at all. Either clean water — or no water.
That built-in "kill switch" wasn’t just technical. It was ethical.
That was the level of care our client had built into the technology. Our job was to make sure we matched their level of care, with contracts that spelled out exactly who was responsible for what, and what would happen if something went wrong.
Distributed Technology Needs Distributed Thinking
Traditionally, water regulation frameworks are built around centralised systems. One facility, lots of pipes, lots of controls. Easy (ish) to manage.
But what happens when everyone becomes a water processor?
This was the challenge our client faced. Their system met Australian water quality standards but the delivery model broke the mould.
There was no single plant. No regional distribution grid. No maintenance crew.
Just compact technology, designed to operate autonomously in unpredictable environments, and data that flowed back to a central control system via embedded SIMs.
So naturally, we had to ask ourselves the big questions:
How regulators would assess compliance when water was being processed in dozens of isolated, dynamic locations?
What kind of contract terms needed to exist between our client and its customers?
Who should bear the risk if the technology failed to purify water under certain conditions?
Understanding Preconditions = Protecting Outcomes
Let’s get one thing straight:
You can have the world’s best technology. But if the preconditions aren’t there, it won’t work.
For this water purification technology, preconditions included things like:
The quality of the source water;
The chemical composition and sediment load; and
Access to solar power or backup energy.
As lawyers, we can write contracts that assign rights and responsibilities. But in this case, our client designed for safety from the start, building a system that simply refused to produce water unless it met drinkable standards.
Regulatory fit without fighting the system
This wasn’t about "bending" regulation. It was about showing how the technology fit into existing frameworks, even if those frameworks were built for a different era.
In partnership with the client, we:
Interpreted water safety standards for decentralised application;
Supported the team with guidance on liaising with regulators; and
Prepared legal documentation that demonstrated real-time compliance and fail-safe operations.
We weren't just defending the technology. We were helping it gain legitimacy.
Because the stakes weren’t hypothetical. If someone drank contaminated water, it wouldn't be just a PR issue, it would be a health catastrophe.
Commercialisation
Once the regulatory strategy was in place, we turned to commercial structure.
Was the client selling direct to government? Distributors? Utilities?
Each path carried different:
Risk exposures;
Data-sharing requirements; and
Contractual expectations.
We created custom templates that accounted for this, including:
Clear usage limitations;
Customer responsibilities;
Data access permissions; and
Insurance considerations.
Groundbreaking technology needs grounded legal
This isn’t just a story about water. Or lawyers. Or IoT magic boxes that clean murky water like something out of a sci-fi film.
It’s a story about understanding how your technology behaves in the wild and putting the right contracts and compliance in place, so it doesn’t sink your business.
At Sharpe & Abel, this is what we love: translating engineering complexity into clarity that regulators, customers, and partners can trust.
If you’re building something transformative, but you’re unsure how to protect it, scale it, or sell it safely — we can help.
Want to see what that kind of legal partnership looks like?
Try our General Counsel Subscription. No lock-in. Just smart legal support that knows what to do when your ground-breaking technology meets the real world.