We turn on the faucet, fill a glass and rarely think about everything that happens between the water source and that first sip. Even with a filtration system in place, how do we actually know it’s working?

David Fowler has spent more than 35 years asking questions like that.

Through Water Report Card LLC, Fowler is working to make information about water quality and filtration easier for people to understand. WaterReportCard.com allows users to learn about tap-water quality and issues within a particular water district. His software product LiquosLabs, currently in development, takes that idea a step further, using Internet of Things technology to track the maintenance and performance of individual water filtration systems.

The goal is to connect those two kinds of information. By leveraging data from LiquosLabs, Water Report Card can provide consumer-friendly information about the water actually being dispensed from a filtration system in a particular office, cafeteria, coffee shop or other location.

Fowler calls the larger idea a “Food Label for Filtered Water”: giving people information they can see, understand and use.

In a place where water matters as much as it does in Arizona, Fowler’s work is about taking something most of us never see and making it measurable.

What if clean energy didn’t depend on the sun shining or the wind blowing?

That’s the question behind ISA Energy, founded by Hunter Bjork in 2016. What began as a garage-based research project exploring black holes, quantum physics and magnetism has grown into a Public Benefit Corporation focused on developing a new source of continuous, decentralized clean energy.

ISA is currently developing what it calls a Quantum Energy Generator, a solid-state system the company says is designed to produce power continuously without fuel or combustion. The technology is patent-pending and remains in the pre-production prototype stage, with ISA targeting systems capable of producing 10 to 30 kilowatts of power for applications ranging from homes to data centers.

For Bjork, the project starts with a limitation of today's renewable-energy landscape: sources like solar and wind are intermittent. ISA's thesis is that the next generation of clean energy will need to be continuous, affordable and scalable if it is going to compete economically with fossil fuels.

It’s a big idea, and one still being tested. But that willingness to ask whether something as fundamental as the way we generate electricity could work differently is where Bjork’s innovation begins.

What if protecting the Verde River could start with what’s in your pint glass?

For Sinagua Malt, part of the answer is barley.

The idea began with an effort to improve summer flows in the Verde River by changing when agricultural water is needed. Working with local farmers, Chip Norton and The Nature Conservancy’s Kim Schonek explored shifting acreage from water-intensive summer crops to barley grown earlier in the year. Norton later worked with Steve Ayers to develop the business plan for a local malthouse, which began operating in Camp Verde in 2018.

The original operation was small and hands-on, with a two-vessel malthouse processing about four tons per week and much of the work done manually. But the model was working.

By September 2019, Sinagua reported 433 cumulative acres converted to barley, keeping an estimated 425 million gallons of water in the Verde River.

Then came the challenge of scale. Sergio and Ofelia Goma took ownership of Sinagua Malt in 2023 and expanded the operation from roughly 2,000 square feet to a 20,000-square-foot production facility capable of processing more than 30 tons of malt per week.

The conservation model remains the same: create a viable market for locally grown barley, giving farmers an economic reason to shift away from crops requiring irrigation during the Verde’s lowest summer flows. Sinagua then turns that barley into Arizona malt for breweries and distilleries.

What began as an experiment in agricultural water conservation has become something bigger: a local supply chain capable of putting conservation to work on a much larger scale.

For Kali Gajewski and Mac Crawford, sustainability isn’t a side project. It’s built into how Sedona Beer Company does business.

Since opening in 2018, the husband-and-wife team has looked for ways their brewery can have an impact beyond what’s in the glass. That includes brewing with locally produced Sinagua Malt, helping create the demand that makes its water-conservation model work.

They also use Squarrels instead of traditional barrels to save wood and water. The system uses just one-third of the wood of a traditional barrel while providing the same level of micro-oxygenation. They’ve composted with Compost Crowd and recycled with Sedona Recycles since opening. Their Basecamp location is also operated entirely on electricity.

That same thinking extends to people. Sedona Beer Company offers healthcare benefits and a matching 401(k), benefits that can be hard to come by in small independent hospitality businesses. Each month, its Uptown location also invites customers to round up their checks for a local nonprofit, typically raising $300 to $1,200 for the selected organization.

Their approach asks a bigger question than how to brew a good beer: How much good can one local business build into the way it operates?

Sedona’s trails are filled with plants most of us walk past without ever knowing their names, much less their stories.

Sarah Jetton wanted to change that.

In 2025, she created Flora Guide Sedona, a digital plant identification app and field guide designed specifically around the native plants of Red Rock Country. The guide currently features 58 plants, from alligator juniper and sacred datura to prickly pear and velvet mesquite. Users can identify what they encounter and explore everything from a plant’s characteristics and traditional medicinal uses to conservation and the spiritual symbolism associated with Sedona.

Jetton brings a background in environmental restoration, regenerative agriculture and nature-based design to the project, pairing that knowledge with newer technology, including AI-assisted plant identification.

By bringing those different perspectives together through technology, Flora Guide gives locals and visitors alike an accessible way to learn about and connect with the landscape while they’re actually out exploring it.

Dr. Dan Engle has spent much of his career looking beyond the traditional boundaries of psychiatry.

His work spans conventional medical training, integrative psychiatry, neurocognitive restoration and psychedelic research. A Sedona resident with longstanding ties to the area's wellness community, Engle founded Full Spectrum Medicine, an educational platform exploring emerging approaches to psychiatric care, including psychedelic-assisted therapy.

He is also the co-author of A Dose of Hope: A Story of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy, which uses a fictional patient's experience to explore the emerging research around MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. The treatment remains investigational in the United States; MDMA has not received FDA approval for treating PTSD.

Engle’s work also addresses another question surrounding psychedelic-assisted care: who will be able to afford it? As co-founder of Thank You Life, he is working to expand access through financial assistance. The nonprofit provides support for eligible care through a network of providers and currently reports $670,000 in scholarships supporting 323 people.

Engle’s work brings together medicine, emerging research and access, asking not only what the future of mental health care might look like, but who will be able to participate in it.

Innovation doesn’t always mean developing new technology or exploring an emerging field. Sometimes, innovation is as simple as connecting volunteers with local nonprofits.

That’s what Spring Graf set out to do with Volunteer Sedona & the Verde Valley, the nonprofit she founded to create a centralized hub for volunteer opportunities across the region. Since launching, VSVV has grown from 26 nonprofit partners to more than 80, connecting residents and visitors with everything from one-time service projects to ongoing opportunities and group volunteering.

The numbers show how quickly that network has grown. In 2025 alone, VSVV connected 835 new volunteers with local organizations, supported 245 volunteer events and generated more than 2,500 volunteer hours. Graf has also expanded the idea of voluntourism, giving visitors a way to contribute to the communities they came to experience.

Her newest focus is making volunteering easier for groups, from businesses and schools to families and visiting organizations. VSVV now offers a free Group Volunteer Concierge that matches groups with projects based on their size, schedule, interests and abilities.

Graf’s innovation is a better connection between people, organizations and a community that benefits when they find each other.