Water Innovation Europe has been successfully concluded !

The Water Innovation Europe 2018 edition dedicated to “The road towards a water-smart society: “Overcoming the water challenges of the future” was concluded on the 14^th of June in Brussels, with about 200 participants joining us from the whole water sector.

The two special ingredients woven into the fabric of this year’s programme: a strong and visible inclusion of water in HorizonEurope (FP9) including a possible Mission on Water, and provision of a more central place for water in the governance structures at all levels were enthusiastically received by the water community that was present to prove that the sector can become less fragmented and more united on occasions as such. Patrick Child, Deputy-Director General for Research & Innovation, European Commission opened the conference with his key-note speech, highlighting that the next years will be significant for the water sector and that the new programme Horizon Europe will offer the opportunities that the sector urgently needs.

What are the WIE2018 take-home messages?

Built upon the main concepts of the new WssTP Water Vision 2030, the programme of WIE2018 featured high level speakers and panellists who exchanged insights on how we can overcome the future water challenges and achieve a zero-water stress society.

The outcomes emerged out of the five panel sessions: Water Crises; Water -Smart Industry; Water-Smart Cities; Water-Smart Agriculture; Water-Smart Society, keynote speeches and discussions during the WIE2018 conference can be summarized into the following messages:

• Even though in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018, the water crises were ranked for the 7th consecutive year among the top 5 global societal risks in terms of impact, the value of water for our society is still not sufficiently recognized.
• The impact puts at risk our well-being, health, food production, and our economy, and may lead to social instability and uncontrolled migration.
• To address the water crises at EU level, water needs to be better anchored in the institutional build-up of the Europe Union in a way that does justice to the value of water for our society and all its different uses (urban, industry, food, and nature). The combination of water and energy in a DG Energy & Water seems the logical way forward. Research and innovation are essential to develop better and more affordable solutions and the complexity of the water crises make water a self-evident topic for a HorizonEurope Mission “Securing water for all”.

The whole WIE 2018 Press-Release can be viewed here.

GW4 Water Security Alliance conference

This GW4 Water Security Alliance forum will be focused on the future of innovation, ecosystems and resilience for water security.

It will bring together industry, government and charity leaders to discuss pressing global challenges on water resources.

Confirmed speakers so far include senior representatives from ARUP, the Met Office, Wessex Water, Welsh Water and UKWIR, as well as prominent researchers from the GW4 universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter.

For more information, please contact gw4water@cardiff.ac.uk

WssTP Innovation Awards Winners 2018 announced !

In the context of Water Innovation Europe 2018 conference “The road towards a Water-Smart Society: Overcoming the Water challenges of the future”, the WssTP Water Innovation Awards 2018 ceremony was held on the 13th of June.

• SMEs Award: Altered: Nozzle 
• Water technology & infrastructure prize: TECHNI
• Digital Water Prize: SmartH20 
• Water Governance Prize: CONCERT’EAU 
• Global Water Challenges Prize: HSBC Water Programme

For more information on the WIE2018 winners, please read the full press release here. To learn more about WssTP Water Innovation Awards 2018, please visit the conference’s webpage.

1st EIP Water Conference: Highlight Film and report out!

Over 350 participants from EU and non-EU countries participated in the 1^st EIP Water Conference which was held at the EU Parliament in Brussels on 21 November 2013.  After the conference’s great success, a 2-minute film and a brief conference report, featuring the conference’s highlights, have now been released by the EIP Water. Under the theme ‘Νetworking & interacting – Innovating water”, the conference managed to bring together EIP Water stakeholders, take stock of EIP Water’s progress and help shaping the future of EIP Water to further increase the opportunities for collaborating on water innovation in Europe and globally.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]Watch the 2minutes highlights film from the Conference;

Download the keynote speech of Tomas Michel, WssTP President;

Read the Conference Report or;

Download the conference presentations  [/quote]

ERRIN-WssTP Info day on public funding opportunities for water-related SMEs

On Friday 24th of January, WssTP and ERRIN had the pleasure of welcoming more than 200 participants at the Infoday, organised to shed lights on the public opportunities for SMEs active in the Water Sector and EcoInnovation.  The event was also co-organised through the FinnoWater Action Group of the EIP on Water.

A range of speakers and experts from the European Investment Bank, European Commission, Eurostars, ACQUEAU, COSME, Business Angels and Crowdfunding were present to demonstrate opportunities for SMEs of more than 11,3 Billion Euros.

The event was a great opportunitiy for all SMEs and Project Managers to understand how to make use of available funding instruments and develop partnerships.

WssTP and ERRIN would like thank the Embassy of Netherlands in Belgium that kindly hosted our Infoday and the other sponsors that made the event possible.

WssTP will continue to explore public and private funding opportunities for the water sector in the interest of its members.

For any further enquries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by mail.

Final Declaration from the European Federation of Geologists- Hydrogeology workshop

Under the theme ‘European Water Policy: Challenges for Hydrogeologists’, the European Federation of Geologists hosted a Hydrogeology workshop between 22nd and 23rd of November in Brussels.

The objective of the workshop was to highlight the areas where hydrogeologists are playing an important role in the implementation of the European water policy. The workshop was attended by 80 participants from 18 different countries, including several speakers from the European Commission and supporting organisations (Geological Survey of Belgium, IAH, WssTP and EuroGeosurveys). The agenda of the workshop featured presentations on the current water policy, that were followed by four technical sections on Land use and ecological status; Chemical status and pollution; Water efficiency and Vulnerability . The workshop concluded with a Final Declaration, prepared by the EFG Panel of Experts on Hydrogeology.

To read more about the workshop, please click visit the Eurogeologists website

Download all the presentations of the workshop 

WssTP Working Groups Workshop & Joint WssTP-ERRIN Brokerage event, 22nd November 2013!

WssTP Working Groups Workshop & Joint WssTP-ERRIN Brokerage event took place in the Lombardy Region Delegation office in Brussels, on Friday 22^nd of November between 11.00 and 17.30pm. The event was held, one day after the first EIP Water Annual Conference and had a strong turnout of over 100 attendees, coming from both WssTP’s and ERRIN’s network.

WssTP Working Groups’ Workshop

The Working Groups session was the first joint meeting of all the 16 WssTP working groups after the transition of WssTP from its former pilot structure to the new WG structure.

During the session, all the WssTP WGs leaders briefly  presented  their objectives and activities , enabling members and potential members to learn about them and enter into a discussion, so that they find out whether their activities are relevant to them.

Joint WssTP-ERRIN Brokerage Event

WssTP and ERRIN jointly organised a H2020 Brokerage event that was devoted to the water-related calls in the 2014-2015 work programme for Horizon2020 that will be formally launched on 11th of December.

Panos Balabanis from the DG RTD, Grazyna Wojcieszko from DG Connect and  Robert Schroeder from the DG ENV introduced their perspective on the calls, followed by presentations of members’ ideas and a brokerage session. All participants of the brokerage event were also provided by WssTP with an overview of the relevant calls for the water sector.

 Media Corner

Twitter info day and Partnering event, Water JPI

Water JPI organised a Twitter Infoday and Partnering event that was held today between 09.30 and 11.30 am in Brussels. All the participants of the event had the opportunity to get their questions answered with regards to the Water JPI Joint Pilot Call as well as to interact with other attendees, finding potential partners and strengthening their participation in Water JPI activities. To learn more about the Water JPI Joint Pilot Call, please visit Water JPI website!

Watec Israel 2013: Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition& Conference

WssTP will be present at the International Conference and Exhibition on Water Technology and Environment control that will be held from 22^nd to 24^th of October in Tel Aviv, Israel. The conference will specifically emphasize on the technologies that can serve as the key to a much more efficient exploitation of natural resources (Water, Soil, Energy & Materials). Bringing together Israeli & international business executives, political decisions makers and leading researches, WATEC 2013 seems to be a significant event that aims to present the most advanced technologies and solutions from around the world.

To learn more, please click here

First Coordination Meeting on WssTP Working Groups’ Leaders

On the 8^th of October, the first Coordination meeting of the WssTP WG leaders was held in Brussels. Issues on the agenda were amongst others the strategy for the coming year, exchange and coordination of activities and the preparation for the upcoming H2020 calls. The leaders achieved to have a very constructive discussion, whose outcomes are very useful so as to shape and prepare the Working  Groups’ session of WssTP workshop that will take place on 22^nd of November in Brussels.