H2020 EnergyWater Training Workshop – 13 February 2018

H2020 EnergyWater Training Workshop

13 February 2018

Registrations are Now Open!

The EnergyWater project aims to improve energy efficiency of water processing in industry by developing a dedicated web-tool to help energy managers and auditors support their clients with a more focused approach to better water processing energy efficiency.

WssTP will be holding a free-to-attend one day workshop on the 13th of February in Brussels, with the aim to train energy specialists in the use of the Energy Management Self-Assessment (EMSA) web-tool and explore the latest developments in best practice related to energy efficiency measures in industrial water processes.

On completion of the training you will also become part of the Energy Angel Network, an online searchable database that is going to act as a central resource for the 1000+ companies that will be engaged throughout the project period.REGISTER HERE!

Here you can have access to the agenda.

For more information, please contact Maria Mirachtsi.

Water Knowledge Europe 2017 marks a great success!

The 2017 edition of Water Knowledge Europe, WssTP H2020 & WG event concluded on 29th of November at the BluePoint Centre in Brussels, with a programme that did not only meet but exceeded everyone’s expectations! More than 170 participants had a deep dive into the new EU funding calls, gained insights on innovative projects’ ideas and explored partnership opportunities through the scheduled networking activities.

Let’s take a look into what Water Knowledge Europe featured this year!

▌Introduction to EU Funding Calls

Panagiotis Balabanis from DG R&I, Evdokia Achilleos and Solon Mias from EASME presented a detailed overview of the water-related calls under the new H2020 WP2018-2020 Programme as well as the LIFE Programme, sharing with participants tips and instructions on how to prepare their proposals and get successfully involved in the upcoming calls.

▌Project Ideas & Μatchmaking Session

The dedicated session to project pitches gave the floor to more than 20 stakeholders, coming from all the aspects of the EU water sector (RTO, SMEs, European networks, Industry and Suppliers) to present their project ideas. A matchmaking session followed to facilitate the search for partners and consortia building, during which it is estimated that 200 B2B meetings took place.

▌Networking Dinner

The event concluded with a networking dinner, where participants could carry on their discussions into a friendly and relaxing atmosphere.

What Participants Said

‘WKE is an essential platform for knowledgeable partners across Europe to contribute to successful consortia in H2020 and other EU-funded calls. You will establish new contacts for future work.’ Floor Brouwer|Wageningen University & Research

‘The Water Knowledge Europe 2017 was an unmissable, highly efficient, pocket-sized opportunity to properly kick-off the new Horizon open calls session, to clarify contexts, to share problems and possible solutions. In addition, a nice frame for focused networking, as usually. The more you interact with it, the more you get from it.‘ Maria Cristian Pasi|IZAR

‘The event was excellently organised and offered participants the opportunity to interact effectively with each other both on a scientific and social level.’ Konstantinos Plakas|CERTH, Centre for Research and Technology

‘A chance to meet many different organisations in just one day.‘ Marie Renée de Roubin| Veolia Research and Innovation

‘Very good and informative event, good projects and perfect opportunities. Thank you very much!‘ Peter Rübig|UNIHA

Your feedback matters! Share with us your thoughts here.

Download the Post-Conference Materials

Mark Your Calendar Now:

Water Market Europe 2018

21-22 March 2018

Water Innovation Europe 2018

12- 13 June 2018

WssTP at AIWW 2017

Bringing together leaders from government, the private sector, academics, and society all over the world, the 2017 edition of the AIWW was successfully concluded last week.

Strongly engaged with AIWW, WssTP was one of the supporting organisations of the conference and Tomas Michel, WssTP President was present at the event. WssTP President moderated the workshop titled ‘New tech ventures and up scaling” on the second day of the conference, addressing the issue why innovation in water so often fails. Beyond business sense, i.e. the venture part, up scaling of innovation, measured as market uptake, is of the essence.

A true understanding of the market and the involvement of different stakeholders and local governance, together with a clear problem-solving orientation, partnership and collaboration, were all identified as key elements to market uptake and hence, success. Among the main messages of the session was that for innovation to happen, it’s important that there is an environment of collaboration, partnership, and capacity building, which hopefully in part, WssTP can provide.

To learn more about AIWW 2017, please click here.

Ecolab Named to CDP Water leadership List

Ecolab Inc., WssTP member and one of the global leaders in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, was named to the Water A List by CDP, the nonprofit global environmental disclosure platform.

The A List is comprised of 73 global companies that were recognized for their efforts to manage water more sustainably. Ecolab is among 10 percent of companies participating in CDP’s water program to be named to the Water A List.

“We are proud to receive this recognition, which acknowledges our strong commitment to smart water management,” said Ecolab Chairman and CEO Douglas M. Baker, Jr. “Companies around the world are rethinking the way they work to adapt to growing natural resource constraints and increasing costs. Ecolab is a behind-the-scenes partner in this movement, helping customers at more than 1 million locations find new ways to reduce their reliance on the world’s limited natural resources, including water. In 2016 alone, Ecolab helped customers conserve more than 161 billion gallons of water through technology-driven solutions.”

Companies named to the Water A List are recognized as environmental leaders for their efforts to combat environmental risk. Hundreds of companies submit annual water disclosures to CDP for independent assessment against its scoring methodology.

More information about the Water A List is available on the CDP website.

Wetsus water technology research obtains excellent scores in audit

During the annual international Wetsus congress, the results of the Wetsus scientific evaluation were presented. The excellent outcome on all topics makes Wetsus one of the most influential water technology research groups in the world.

The objective of the 6-annual scientific audit was to evaluate, according to the evaluation protocol of Dutch universities, the quality, relevance and viability of Wetsus as a research institute. As an extra, the value of the Wetsus network for knowledge transfer was added. The scientific quality was awarded the highest possible score.

From the report: “Wetsus, as research unit, is seen by the review committee as one of the most influential and effective research groups in the world in its field.”

This result underlines the importance of smart regional specialisation. The province of Friesland first set course in specialisation in water technology at the end of the previous century. Water technology does not only service the water sector; it is also essential for all manufacturing and process industries, as well as for agriculture. Wetsus has been instrumental in maximizing the innovation potential by reaching out across boundaries and silos, and by combining the strengths of global companies and European knowledge institutes.

Currently 105 companies and 22 research institutes cooperate in Wetsus ground-breaking research programme. This open innovation ecosystem is truly cross-sectorial and cross disciplinary. In addition it has a global reach, with over 25% of the company participants originating from 16 countries and 3 continents.

The audit committee was composed of four eminent engineers and scientists from around the world:  prof. Jean Fréchet (Saudi Arabia), prof. Menachem Elimelech (USA), prof. Jürg Keller (Australia) en prof. Alexander Zehnder (Singapore). They reviewed research quality, relevance to society, viability and the special network method of Wetsus.

Research quality: The review committee was impressed by the significant achievements of Wetsus. Its research, publications and impact are world-class. At the same time, Wetsus provides the private sector with extremely useful scientific insight and knowledge that allows it to compete internationally at the highest level.

Relevance to society: There is a wide range of global and regional water-related issues and challenges that Wetsus research makes strong contributions to. These issues are all pervasive and the Wetsus programme is making significant and growing impacts in these areas despite its relatively recent establishment. As a research unit, Wetsus makes an outstanding contribution to society.

Viability: The management of Wetsus is well organised. Strong leadership from the top-management has built a robust, effective and efficient organisation. Organisational checks and balances are in place to both generate good quality research as well as useful results for companies. The financial system for contributions by companies is simple and effective and provides a resilient structure to ensure stability of the financial contributions from participating companies. The research unit Wetsus is excellently equipped for the future.

Research quality, relevance to society and viability were unanimously judged by the committee to each clearly deserve the highest possible score: excellent.

In addition, the committee looked at how Wetsus organizes its network and how it connects its partners. The assessment committee is impressed by the way Wetsus organises the highly integrated and interactive network around them. Both academic and industry partners were very supportive of the network, with universities seeing Wetsus as a valuable extension of their interests, not as a competitor, while companies consider the Wetsus network as a cost-effective platform to engage with key experts and cooperate on strategic or applied research from the phase of invention into innovation and makes the connection between (university) research and industry like no other institute in water technology in the world.

The evaluation committee considers Wetsus to be unique, not only in Europe but worldwide. It represents a model research institute on how research and collaboration needs to be organized at the interface between academia, industry and society.

WssTP participates in Porto Water Innovation Week 2017!

Only three weeks separate us from Porto Water Innovation Week and WssTP is excited to play its part at this important occasion! Discover WssTP @ the Porto Water Innovation Week and the conference of the European Innovation Partnership on Water:

• Workshop on “Industry Water: From Single Use to Integrated Management” jointly organised with SusChem, on Tuesday 26 September 2017.
• WssTP Booth(nr 94) in the Innovation Hub Area where we will display the WssTP Vision & SIRA, present our latest activities and which will serve as a meeting place for WssTP members, including a daily happy hour.
• WssTP speakers as part of the EIP Water conference’s programme.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE WORKSHOP ‘INDUSTRY WATER: FROM SINGLE USE TO INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT’

REGISTER HERE FOR THE EIP WATER CONFERENCE 2017

Want to know more?

The European Water Technology Platform, WssTP and the European Sustainable Chemistry Technology Platform, SusChem, in collaboration with the EIP Water, are pleased to announce the launch of the pre-conference workshop ‘Industry Water: From Single Use to Integrated Management’. This workshop builds on an earlier workshop organised in Brussels by WssTP and SusChem, 20th April 2017 and prepares specific messages for impact on the audience of the EIP Water Conference in Porto. These messages relate to the industrial water reuse as stressed for instance at the WssTP Water Innovation Europe 2017 and are built from the 4 corners of the Value of Water model of the WssTP Vision, i.e. Sensoring, Big Data, Analysis & Modelling, and Governance.​ Download here the preliminary agenda of the workshop.

For more information, please contact Andrea Rubini (WssTP) or Henk Pool (SusChem).

We are happy to meet you at our booth number 94 at the East Ground Floor in the Innovation Hub Area, where we are going to exhibit the WssTP Water Vision and Strategic Innovation Research Agenda(SIRA). Special highlight is the daily ‘Happy hour’ scheduled to take place at our booth for the participants of the event to further interact and network. Take the opportunity to stop at our booth to meet us and get to know all about our latest developments. Looking forward to seeing you there.

For more information, please contact Anna Mazzetto.

Water Innovation Europe 2017: held with great success

With over 220 participants and many special moments, Water Innovation Europe 2017 was a smashing success! The WssTP’s annual stakeholder conference dedicated to ‘The Value of water: The case for innovation and investment in water’ took place on the 14 and 15 of June in Brussels and left behind long-lasting impressions!

Jyrki Katainen, EC Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness raised the curtains of the conference, emphasising that water is the key factor for the sustainability of our economy and societies and Claire Pace, President of the European Youth Parliament for Water, closed the conference, with a strong message on the importance of involving the young generation in the future’s challenges and opportunities of the water sector.

Water Innovation Europe 2017 Key messages

The programme of this year’s edition was built upon the main concepts of the new WssTP Water Vision 2030. Distinguished in their field speakers participated in the five different sessions of the agenda and debated on how to boost the future water-smart society, as envisaged in the WssTP Vision. The outcomes emerged out of the panel sessions, speeches and discussions during the WIE2017 conference, can be summarised into the following messages:

Bringing innovation to the market is a long and challenging process (from technology readiness level 1 to  9), that requires talented people, resources and  market  pull.

Digital transformation requires assessing issues such as open data, data ownership, data value and connectivity spectrum.

It is important to understand the value of Water Stewardship principles for the value chain partners and engage from earliest stage with AWS.[/acc_item] [acc_item title=”Session 4: Water Smart-Cities“]

The interrelations among the different resources clearly indicate the importance of adopting a nexus approach.

It is crucial to create strong mechanisms for multi-stakeholder engagement, as water crises are often governance crises.

The key conclusions of WIE2017 will serve as a basis for the preparations of the EIP Water Conference 2017, scheduled for the 27-28 September in Porto.

Download the full key messages of WIE2017

WssTP Awards 2017 Dinner Ceremony

The WssTP Awards Dinner Ceremony 2017 was among the top highlights of this year’s conference, during which the EU water sector came together to discover the winners of the WssTP Awards 2017, while enjoying a copious dinner in a great musical setting with the performance of Amaranthus band. Amaranthus is a young and dynamic ensemble that innovates by mixing baroque music with visual art.  The winners of the four prize categories of this year’s Awards are

• Vitens, Water Technology & infrastructure Prize
• OPTICITS, SME Prize
• Global Omnium, Digital Water Prize
• DHI, Water Governance Prize

Exhibition

On the main conference day, Water Innovation Europe 2017 conference opened the doors of its exhibition area, with DECHEMA, R3Water, Porto Water Innovation Week and ECOMONDO, participating as exhibitors.

Pre-conference Programme

The WIE2017 pre-conference programme started on the 14th June with the WssTP working groups meetings and continued with a session on successful FP7 and H2020 projects. The participating projects demonstrated how their results will provide concrete solutions that can contribute to the realisation of a water-smart society, as envisioned in the WssTP Water Vision 2030: SIM4NEXUS (CL1- Value of Water), R3Water (CL2 Smart Water Treatment), DAIAD (CL3 Digital Water), FREEWAT (CL4: Value in Water), DEMOWARE (CL5: Hybrid Grey Green Infra), WIDEST (CL6: Water Innovation System). In parallel to that, the annual WssTP General meeting was held, with the elections of the new board for the period 2017-2019.

Click here to access the post-event materials!

‘Industry Water: From Single Use to Integrated Management’ Workshop

‘Industry Water: From Single Use to Integrated Management’ Workshop

On 20 April, the WssTP and SusChem European Technology Platforms jointly hosted a successful and well-attended workshop on ‘Industry water: from single use to integrated management’ in Brussels.

The workshop succeeded in gathering challenges and perspectives on the management of smart industrial water reuse and featured contributions from the European Commission and the sector made by both “problem owners” and “solution providers”, and with a final insight on the holistic and systemic structure (Smart Governance and Digital Water) which addressed the challenges for discovering and exploiting the true Value of Water as highlighted in the WssTP Vision document.

For WssTP the Value of Water highlights the crucial role of water for our economy, industry, society, nature and citizens and foresees a future digitally connected water-smart society that works with waters of different qualities that are appropriate to their use.

SusChem sees fresh water as a scarce resource and a critical element for sustainable development of society. Water is a priority area for SusChem and it is pursuing specific topics with the overall aim of decoupling economic growth from actual water use.

Outputs for action 
The workshop produced tangible outputs through a final parallel breakout session that developed and proposed content, gaps, strengths and needs of the four pillars of the Value of Water vision:

• Modelling and Analysis
• Big Data
• Smart Governance, and
• Sensor Networks.

This final session built the basis for an action plan to bring the outcomes of the workshop to the European Innovation Partnership for Water (EIP Water) Conference, which will be held in the city of Porto in the week of 25 September 2017. A group of participants from the workshop will support the further development of the outputs for final presentation at the EIP Water Conference. A list of action derived from the joint workshop will drive the content of a follow-up workshop that will take place during the EIP Water Conference.

The outputs and challenges identified for each pillar of the Value of Water are briefly described below:

Sensor Networks
Sensor development provides a unique opportunity for enhancing the Value of Water. Advanced sensor development is required to ensure continuous understanding and control of water quality. Handling of dynamic water systems requires advanced sensors. Full implementation, reliable operation costs and maintenance are important.

Big Data
Identifying the value of the water system in generating and creating data is central to its economic value. The creation of a resilient basis for cyber security and privacy legislation is necessary, as no holistic overview currently exists. Links between data silos and pockets of data should be established and prioritized.

Modelling and Analysis
Many models for enhancing water management exist in academia or within RTOs. But these methodologies need to be brought into context before moving to the next pilot phase. It is necessary to identify models and tailor them to the requirements of users in order to develop more efficient  water systems, while observing the interactions and implications.

Smart Governance
Smart governance models vary from region to region. The selection process for an appropriate governance design requires extensive consideration. Education and communication is crucial for its successful understanding and implementation.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

To have access to the workshop presentations please click here.

First edition of Water Market Europe event marked by success!

Water Market Europe kicked off its first edition on the 28th of March at the BluePoint Centre in Brussels, creating a promising innovative and business environment that got a warm welcome by the whole water community.

The event succeeded in unveiling the magnitude of the largely unexploited water market, by bringing together voices from the investors’ side and perspectives from the ‘problem owners’ and ‘solution providers’, who were there to represent a broad range of companies, utilities and regions.

Participants had dynamic interactions through B2B meetings, where they had the chance to explore more on the innovative solutions presented at the sessions and lay the foundations for future business cooperation.

The Water Market Europe event concluded with a dinner meeting, where WssTP WG leaders convened to discuss the new Working Group structure, which is being developed in line with the new WssTP Water Vision 2030 and SIRA. On the 29th of March, WssTP Working Groups hosted their meetings back to back to the Water Market Europe event to present their workplans and latest advances. To learn more about WssTP Working Groups and how you can join their activities, please contact Anna Mazzetto.

A big thanks to all the participating companies & regions!

Special thanks to our event’s collaborators: & regions!

 All event’s material is available on the website www.watermarketeurope.eu

Horizon 2020 to be topped up with €200 million

The European Parliament gave its consent to additional €200 million for Horizon 2020, the current EU research and innovation funding programme, by adopting a compromise on the mid-term review of the EU budget, reached with the EU Member States on 7 March. The final and formal approval of the Council of the EU is expected in the coming weeks. The €200 million top-up for Horizon 2020 is part of additional means amounting to €6 billion that will help the EU tackle urgent challenges such as the migration crisis, strengthening security, boosting growth and creating jobs.

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “This is a very valuable deal that will allow the Commission to direct additional funding into key areas, such as boosting market-creating innovation as well as supporting excellent research, the sharing of big data and bridging the innovation divide between the countries in Europe.”

A part of the €200 million Horizon 2020 top-up, €50 million, was already adopted through the 2017 voted budget. The breakdown of the additional funding follows proportionally the Commission’s proposal of October 2016:

• €50 million for the European Research Council (of which €16.7 million were already included in the 2017 budget)
• €55 million for Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation part of Horizon 2020 (of which €16.7 million were already included in the 2017 budget)
• €50 million for the European Innovation Council (on the RTD budget line Innovation in SMEs)
• €45 million for High Performance Computers, under Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies part of Horizon 2020 (of which €16.7 million were already included in the 2017 budget)