Water Europe IWDs
Water Europe IWDs is an initiative, in line with the three main WE programmes: WE Collaboration, Advocacy and Market Programme, which aims to set up business and research collaboration between the EU and other strategic global regions to better enable our members to create market opportunities for European solutions and to facilitate scientific collaboration.
Water Europe IWDs are implemented through country-specific IWD, the WE WG Water Beyond Europe, and in collaboration with international organisations such as the OECD, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum. Currently, we have country-specific IWD on China, India, and Iran.

WE – International Water Dialogues Days 2023
Water for Cooperation
22 June 2023 – 14:00-17:30
Objectives of the Event
-To provide an overview of the outcomes from the UN Water Conference and Europe’s role in global water cooperation and future actions.
-To follow-on the Water Orientated Living Labs of the 2022 event and action new WOLLs.
-To create and build an international community for water cooperation partnerships.
Programme
The second edition of the annual International Water Dialogues Event will be held as a side event to the Water Innovation Europe Event on the 22nd of June 2023, together with the possibility for online participation. The morning session will be largely dedicated to the outcomes of the UN Water Conference and subsequent actions including a keynote speech from an experienced speaker on the topic, as well as a panel discussion. In the second part of the morning an introduction session on the current status of international living labs and new commitments for WoLLs.
The afternoon session will be in the form of workshops, with three parallel breakout groups sharing of examples, best practices, and lessons learned on living labs and twinning experiences considering the following cross cutting aspects:
-Sharing of experiences with particular focus on the cross cutting themes of Water and Climate, Financing, Governance, in addition to Innovation and Capacity Building.
-Sharing experiences including differences and “what works best” for the different regional priority areas (IWD priority areas) related to: High tech markets (e.g USA), Neighbourhood countries (e.g. MENA region) and UN focus areas (e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa).
-Provide recommendations on future opportunities with the purposes of stronger links with EU WOLL’s or creation ox expanded WOLL’s beyond Europe
Agenda
Opening session
💧David Smith, Director at WE&B
💧Durk Krol, Executive Director, Water Europe
Keynote Water for Cooperation
-Key outcomes and actions from the UN Water Conference and importance of EU in international water cooperation.
💧Jean-Marie Kileshye Onema, Vice-President of the international commission on Water Resources Systems (ICWRS) and Executive Manager of WaterNet Africa
Presentation: White Paper Water Beyond Europe
-Building Effective Water Dialogues and Alliances Making International Cooperation in Water Innovation work and linked to the UN Water Conference outcomes.
💧Gaetano Casale, Manager Liaison Office IHE, co-leader of the Water Europe Working Group Water Beyond Europe
Panel discussion: Effective International Cooperation on Water
Water and international cooperation related challenges we share.
Moderated by Richard Elelman, Head of Politics, Eurecat – Centro Tecnológico de Catalunya
Panellist:
💧Murray Biedler EU Water Facility and ex coordinator from ACEWATER II
💧Martin Heibel, Programme officer at ENPI CBC Med from Stand-UP! – tbc
💧Susanne Schmeier, Associate Professor of Water Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft/Head of Water Governance Department (online)
15.45 – 16.15 Coffee break
Panel Discussion: Living Labs experience – building from lessons learnt
“Twinning for Winning” – Include elements related to Water for Cooperation, Climate Migration, Water and Finance, Water Governance, Water and Health.
Moderated by David Smith, Director WE&B and WBE Lead
Panellists:
💧Karin Andeweg, Team leader Water & Food Security at Wageningen Environmental Research
💧Antonio Lo Porto, Water4All International Dimension (LLs)
💧Nora van Cauwenbergh, Climate Services, I-CISK, IHE-Delft
💧Henrik Aspegren, CEO, Sweden Water Research
Plenary Wrap-up – Young Water Professional Perspective following the panel discussions on The Living Labs experience: building from lessons learnt.
💧Karine Caussé, Socio-Environmental Systems Consultant at WE&B
💧Lindsey Kenyon, Groundwater and Global Change MSc. Student at IHE Delft
Launch of the international community for water cooperation partnerships
💧David Smith, Director WE&B and WBE Lead
Conclusion
💧Durk Krol, Executive Director, Water Europe